executions and amputations are coming back

The harsh punishments, amputations and executions carried out under the last Taliban regime will return to Afghanistan now that the Islamic militia has returned to power, said one of the group’s founders, who has been accused of ideological discipline under the regime. previous.

In an interview with the Associated Press, el mullah Nurudín Turabi He dismissed criticism of the previous regime, when prisoners were executed in full stadiums, and asked other countries do not interfere with the new government.

“Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadiums, but we never criticized them for their laws or their punishments,” Turabi said during the interview in Kabul.

“No one is going to tell us what laws we should have. We will follow the guidelines of Islam and our laws will be based on the Quran. ”

Mullah Nurudín Turabi

One of the founders of the Taliban

“Nobody is going to tell us what laws should we have. We will follow the guidelines of Islam and our laws will be based on the Quran, ” he added.

Since the Taliban returned to power in August after a nationwide lightning attack and the withdrawal of foreign forces, the international community has been monitoring whether militias reimpose the strict theocratic regime with which he reigned in the 1990s.

Turabi’s comments seem to indicate group leadership remains mired in a vision conservative and uncompromising, although it has accepted some technological advancements, such as videos and cell phones.

Prevention of defects

Turabi, now in his sixties, was Minister of Justice and led the appeal Ministry of the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice _that is to say, religious police_ under the previous Taliban regime.

At that time, the world condemned the punishments applied by the Taliban, which were carried out in the stadium of Kabul or in the huge Eid Gah mosque, in front of hundreds of Afghans.

The murderers were executed with a ball in the head, usually by a family member of the victim, who had the opportunity to receive money and spare the life of the accused. Thieves have had a hand amputated and those convicted of highway robbery were amputated one hand and one foot.

Trials were rarely open to the public and the courts were biased towards Islamic clerics, whose knowledge of the law was limited to religious edicts.

“Cutting your hands is extremely necessary for safety reasons.

Turabi assured that now judges _including women_ would be the ones who would decide cases, but insisted that the basis of Afghan law it will be the quran. He added that the punishments of the previous regime they will come back.

“Cutting off your hands is extremely necessary for safety reasons,” he said, claiming that the punishment has a deterrent effect. The government, he added, is studying the possibility of making the sanctions public again and “we will already develop a policy in this regard.”

In recent days in Kabul, Taliban guards have resurrected a punishment they used in the past: publicly humiliate men accused of petty theft.

On at least two occasions in the past week, several men have been placed, tied up, in the back of a truck and walked the streets to humiliate them. One’s face was painted to identify him as a thief and the other was put old bread in his mouth. it was not clear what had been the crime committed.

Turabi, a little man in a white turban and a messy white beard, limped while walking with his artificial leg. Lost a leg and an eye in combat against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

Now Turabi is in charge of the country’s prison system. Along with other Taliban leaders, including cabinet members, all men_ appear on the list of individuals sanctioned by the United Nations.

Under the previous regime, Turabi was one of the most radical leaders of the group. When the Taliban first came to power in 1996, they yelled at a female journalist because she was in a room where there were men, and then they slapped a man who objected to him in the face. the woman is treated that way.

The author is a reporter for the Associated Press

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