A harrowing scene unfolded in Afghanistan as tens of thousands gathered to witness the public execution of a man, an act made even more chilling by reports that a 13-year-old was the one who pulled the trigger. The spectacle said to have drawn a crowd of nearly 80,000 people.”A public execution carried out by the Taliban in the eastern province of Khost on Tuesday was conducted by a 13-year-old boy,” Amu TV reported citing locals. The man had been accused of killing members of the teen’s family, the report said.Report reveals that before the execution, Taliban officials turned to the victim’s young relative, a 13-year-old boy, asking whether he wished to pardon the convicted man, identified locally as Abdul Rahman, son of Zabit. When the boy refused, they placed a weapon in his hands and instructed him to carry out the killing. Moments later, he fired the fatal shots inside Khost’s central stadium.Moreover, officials had publicly encouraged residents to witness the execution, issuing notices on Monday that were widely circulated.
‘Retaliatory punishment’
The Taliban’s supreme court, however, identified the executed man as Mangal, son of Talah Khan, who had been found guilty of murdering Abdul Rahman with a Kalashnikov rifle. According to the court, he was handed a “retaliatory punishment” for killing another man after his case had been “thoroughly and repeatedly reviewed.””The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace, but they refused,” it said. Officials said the case had passed through primary, appeals, and high courts before the execution was authorised by the Taliban’s leader. According to the court, the convicted man was originally from Sanjak village in Paktia’s Syed Karam district, though he had been living in Khost’s Ali Shir and Terezio districts.
