Spectacle of Death Returns to Afghanistan as Taliban Turns Stadium into Execution Ground

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The chilling silence that fell over the sports stadium in the eastern Afghan city of Khost on Tuesday was not in anticipation of a game, but for a grim display of state-sanctioned lethality that has once again become the hallmark of the Taliban’s judicial administration. In a brazen defiance of international human rights norms and despite urgent pleas from the United Nations, the Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man convicted of murder, turning a venue designed for community and athletics into a theater of retribution.

The execution marks a continuation of the hardline group’s return to the draconian punishments that defined their rule in the 1990s, utilizing the spectacle of death as a potent tool for governance and social control.

The country’s Supreme Court confirmed the proceedings in a statement, identifying the executed man simply as Mangal. His death was not a private affair of the state but a curated public event, orchestrated to maximize its psychological impact on the local population.

According to the court, Mangal was put to death in front of a large crowd gathered at the sports stadium in Khost, a location that has, under the current regime, become synonymous with the administration of corporal and capital punishment.

This event brings the official tally of men publicly put to death since the Taliban swept back to power in August 2021 to twelve, a figure that human rights monitors fear represents only the visible tip of a much broader systemic shift toward violent jurisprudence.

The mechanics of this execution were set in motion well before Tuesday morning. In a move that underscores the regime’s intent to utilize such punishments as a deterrent through fear, authorities had actively urged the residents of Khost to attend the killing.

Official notices were shared widely across the region on Monday, effectively issuing a summons to the public to witness the application of what the Taliban terms "retaliatory punishment."

This strategy of inviting the public to witness violence is a calculated tactic, transforming the judicial process into a visceral lesson for the citizenry.

By filling the stands of a stadium with spectators to watch a man die, the administration reinforces its absolute authority over life and death, embedding a sense of terror into the fabric of daily life under the guise of maintaining law and order.

The case against Mangal stemmed from a violent incident that occurred earlier in the year.

The Supreme Court’s statement detailed that the condemned man was one of several attackers involved in a deadly assault on a residential home in January 2025.

The attack was particularly brutal, involving the opening of fire on a household which resulted in the deaths of ten people, including three women.

The severity of this crime was used by the authorities to justify the public nature of the punishment. The court asserted that the case had been "examined very precisely and repeatedly," a phrase intended to project an image of judicial rigor and careful deliberation within the Taliban’s sharia-based legal system.

However, the final seal on Mangal’s fate was determined not by a judge, but by the families of the victims.

In accordance with the Islamic legal concept of Qisas, or retribution in kind, the right to forgive or demand execution rests with the heirs of the deceased. The Supreme Court noted that the families of the ten victims were "offered amnesty and peace" but ultimately refused to grant mercy.

Their refusal paved the way for the state to carry out the sentence, framing the execution as the fulfillment of the victims' rights rather than merely a state action.

This legal framework, while rooted in religious interpretation, has drawn sharp criticism for lacking the due process guarantees and legal representation standards required under international law.

The execution in Khost has drawn immediate and fierce condemnation from the international community, highlighting the widening chasm between the Taliban’s governance and global human rights standards.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, issued a stark warning regarding the practice just hours before the sentence was carried out. Taking to the social media platform X on Tuesday, Bennett categorized such acts unequivocally as "inhumane, cruel, and an unusual punishment, contrary to international law."

Reports received of an imminent public execution in Khost #Afghanistan this morning. Public executions are inhumane, a cruel and unusual punishment, and contrary to international law. It should be halted.

— UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett (@SR_Afghanistan) December 2, 2025

Bennett’s statement, "They must stop," reflects the growing frustration of the United Nations and human rights organizations which have watched as the Taliban systematically dismantled the previous legal system and replaced it with one that relies heavily on corporal punishment, including floggings and executions.

The Special Rapporteur’s characterization of the punishment as "unusual" refers to its violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Afghanistan is a state party.

The public nature of the execution is particularly contentious, as international human rights bodies have long argued that public executions violate the prohibition on cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, stripping the condemned of dignity and brutalizing the society that witnesses it.

The use of sports stadiums for such grim purposes is a harrowing echo of the Taliban’s first regime from 1996 to 2001, a period when the Kabul National Stadium became infamous not for soccer matches, but for the executions and amputations carried out on its pitch.

The return to these practices in 2025 signals a definitive rejection of the reformist image the Taliban attempted to project during the initial months of their return to power. Instead, the regime appears to be consolidating its hold through the politics of fear. 

By conducting these executions in broad daylight and encouraging attendance, the Taliban is sending a message that their interpretation of justice is absolute and that the international community’s standards hold no sway within their borders.

The execution of Mangal also raises serious questions about the fairness of the trials that lead to such irreversible sentences. While the Supreme Court claims precise examination, the opacity of the Taliban’s judicial system leaves little room for independent verification.

There is no transparency regarding whether the accused had access to legal counsel, whether confessions were obtained under duress, or if the evidentiary standards met any internationally recognized threshold for capital cases. In a system where the judiciary is entirely subservient to the political and religious leadership, the potential for miscarriages of justice is exponentially high.

Furthermore, the execution serves as a grim marker of the deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan. It is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of repression that includes the erasure of women from public life, the silencing of dissent, and the imposition of severe restrictions on personal freedoms.

The "retaliatory punishment" meted out in Khost is symbolic of a governance model that prioritizes retribution over rehabilitation and fear over justice. The ten lives lost in the January 2025 attack were a tragedy, but the state-sponsored spectacle of vengeance in a sports stadium adds another layer of trauma to a nation already reeling from decades of conflict.

As the crowd dispersed from the Khost stadium on Tuesday, the legacy of the day was not just the death of a convicted murderer, but the reinforcement of a societal norm where violence is a public event.

The Taliban’s insistence on these public displays, despite global condemnation, illustrates their commitment to a hardline ideology that views international human rights laws as irrelevant Western constructs.

With twelve men now publicly executed since 2021, and the UN's calls for a halt falling on deaf ears, the people of Afghanistan find themselves increasingly isolated in a legal landscape defined by the severity of the punishment and the visibility of the executioner’s hand.