Taliban publicly execute murderer, amputate two robbers

AFP, August 14, 1998

KABUL, Aug 14 (AFP) - The hardline Taliban Friday publicly executed a murderer and amputated limbs of two robbers amid shouts of "God is the Greatest" at the Kabul stadium, witnesses said.

Thousands of Taliban soldiers and citizens, including women, watched the proceedings.

The murderer squatted and after his face was covered with a pink mask he was shot dead by the father of the man allegedly killed by the accused earlier this year.

Later a team of surgeons wearing blue masks chopped off right hands and left feet of two men convicted of highway robbery.

The surgeons amputated the limbs after anaesthetizing the convicts and left the severed limbs on the ground for the spectators to rush and have a close look.

The three were convicted by a military tribunal created by the Taliban supreme leader Mulla Omar to deal with criminal cases under the Islamic Sharia law.

Taliban, who now control almost three-quarter of Afghanistan, have enforced punishments in public under the Islamic law which they say helped deter and curb criminal acts.

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