Taliban hold public execution before thousands of onlookers in Afghanistan stadium

The Taliban on Monday held a public execution of a man convicted of murder before thousands of onlookers in a sports stadium in Afghanistan.

The brother of the murdered man shot the condemned man five times with a rifle in a stadium in Sheberghan, the capital of Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province, according to a witness, The Associated Press reported. The stadium had heavy security as the execution occurred amid heavy snowfall. 

Monday's execution is the third death sentence to be carried out over the past five days, and the fifth public execution since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021. On Thursday, two men who were convicted of stabbing people to death were executed by gunshot in a stadium by relatives of the victims.

The Taliban had initially promised to rule more moderately than it did in the 1990s. The United Nations has strongly criticized the Taliban for public executions and has demanded an end to the practice.

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