Taliban ask officials not to carry out public executions unless directed by 'top court': Report

Kabul [Afghanistan], October 16 (ANI): The Taliban has directed local officials to refrain from carrying out punishments in public unless Afghanistan's "top court" issues the order for public execution.
The Council of Ministers has decided that no punishment will be carried out publicly when there is no need to publicise the convict and till the court issues an order, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a tweet.
"Public executions and hanging of bodies should be avoided unless the supreme court issues an order for such an action," Mujahid said was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
"If the offender is punished, the punishment must be explained so that the people know about the crime," the Taliban spokesperson said.
Last month, the United States had strongly condemned the Taliban's plans to reinstate amputations and executions as a type of punishment in Afghanistan.
During a presser, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the US stands with the Afghan people, especially with members of minority groups, and demand that the Taliban immediately cease any such atrocious abuses.
"We condemn in the strongest terms reports of reinstating amputations and executions of Afghans. The acts, the Taliban are talking about here, would constitute clear gross abuses of human rights, and we stand firm with the international community to hold perpetrators of any such abuses accountable," Price had said.
In September, multiple media reports had emerged that the Taliban's official in charge of prisons and former justice minister of Afghanistan, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, said punishments such as executions and amputations will resume in the country.
After announcing the government in Afghanistan, the Taliban regime has failed to get recognition. Aside from China, Pakistan and a handful of other countries, the rest of the world is taking a wait and watch policy while keeping an eye on the conduct of the outfit. (ANI)