Afghanistan: Amputations and executions will return, says Taliban official

 

"No one will tell us what laws we will have in our country," said Mullah Nuruddin Turabi, Afghanistan's current prison minister, who called for executions and amputations.

One of the founders of the Taliban movement, which for the last time the Islamists were in power, led the implementation of the extreme version of Sharia in Afghanistan, recently said that executions and amputations would return to the country, although they will probably no longer be held in public.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mullah Nuruddin Turabi said he was not interested in angry reactions to the Taliban's past executions in large crowds or in stages, and warned foreign countries not to interfere in the affairs of his new government. Afghanistan.

"Everyone criticized us for the punishments we imposed on the stadium, but we had never spoken out against their own laws and punishments. No one will tell us what laws we will have in our country. "We will follow Islam and formulate our laws based on the Koran," Turabi said, speaking from Kabul.

Turabi explained that the cases of those accused of a crime will be brought before judges (including women) but the basis of Afghan law will be the Koran. The punishments that are considered barbaric in most countries of the world will return, according to him.

"Amputation of the hands is very necessary for safety," the Taliban official said, noting that the measure had a deterrent effect. According to him, the governing council is considering whether the imposition of penalties should be made public or not, and no decision has yet been made on the policy to be followed.

Turabi, who lost a leg and an eye while fighting Soviet troops in the 1980s, will head prisons in Afghanistan's new government

The last time the movement was in power, Turabi, now 60, was head of the ministry for "Spreading Virtue and Preventing Immorality."

At that time, people condemned the scenes that took place in Kabul Stadium or in front of the Id Gach Mosque, where those found guilty of violating Sharia were publicly punished in front of the gathered crowd. Executions of convicted murderers were usually carried out with a bullet to the head, by the relatives of the victim, with the option of accepting a ransom and allowing the perpetrator to live. For convicted thieves, the usual punishment was amputation of the hand. In the case of some armed robberies, the amputation was done on the perpetrator's arm and leg.