The execution took place at Khost’s Central Stadium, where local officials had urged residents a day earlier to gather for the event. Estimates from Amu News placed the crowd at nearly 80,000. Before the shooting, Taliban officials asked the child whether he wished to forgive the condemned man, as allowed under Islamic law. He declined. Authorities then handed him a firearm and instructed him to carry out the sentence.
Khost police spokesperson Mustaghfir Ghorbaz said Khan had killed a relative of the boy, Abdul Rahman, along with two others. Two additional suspects in the same case have also been sentenced to death, but their executions were postponed because not all heirs of the victims were present.
According to a statement from the Taliban’s Supreme Court, the case went through primary, appellate, and supreme judicial reviews. All three courts upheld the death sentence under the principle of qisas—“a life for a life.” The ruling was ultimately approved by Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Senior Taliban officials, including the Chief Justice, the provincial governor, and appellate court authorities, were present at the stadium as the sentence was carried out.
Since the Taliban’s return to power on August 15, 2021, this marks the 11th officially acknowledged execution. Amu TV reports that the Supreme Court has issued death sentences for 176 individuals over the past four years.
Under Taliban law, crimes such as murder, adultery, and theft may be punished by execution, amputation, or flogging, reflecting the group’s strict enforcement of its interpretation of Sharia.
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