THIS is the chilling moment crowds flock to watch a teenage boy shoot his family’s killer in a shocking ‘medieval’ public execution in Afghanistan.
The 13-year-old boy was reportedly given the choice of forgiving his family’s murderer, or to be the one to pull the trigger in front of a Wembley sized crowd on Tuesday.
In the disturbing video circulating online, thousands of people rush to watch the archaic execution, ordered by the Taliban regime.
Spectators to the grim event were banned from bringing phones with cameras, local media reported.
A Taliban spokesperson said 80,000 flocked to watch the execution.
Identified by local media as Mangal, the convicted man was shot by the young boy in front of a crowd of thousands at Khost’s central stadium.
ON THE BRINK
War fears as reckless Taliban ‘plays game of fire & blood’ on Pakistan border
The Taliban supreme court said the man was guilty of the premeditated killing 13 members of a the boy’s family, including several children.
The court said the case had been reviewed by multiple courts and appeals before the execution order was approved by the Taliban’s leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Human rights organisations have condemned the execution and criticised the Taliban for what they say is a lack of transparency and due process in the group’s judicial system.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, called for the Taliban to stop public executions and retributions immediately, describing them as “inhuman, cruel, and contrary to international law”.
The dramatic scenes marked the eleventh public execution in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and Nato forces.
It comes after a man, guilty of murdering his pregnant wife, was publicly executed in front of a crowd at Badghis provincial stadium last month.
The convicted man was shot three times by a relative of one of his two victims in front of hundreds of spectators.
Identified only as Ismail, the Afghan man was found guilty of killing two people before he was sentenced to death and executed.
Local courts said Ismail fatally shot the pair dead in the Jawand district of the Badghis province.
Authorities confirmed: “The murderer killed two people, a man and his wife, who was around eight months pregnant.”
And the Taliban’s Supreme Court said: “The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.”
The terror group said the event was conducted in line with Islamic law.
Posters and leaflets were circulated around, inviting as many people as possible to attend the public killing.
The execution had to be reviewed by three courts and then greenlit by the nation’s supreme leader before it could go ahead.
Taliban rulers continue to hand out public floggings for offences such as theft, adultery and drinking alcohol.
But all execution orders need to be approved by the Taliban’s supreme leader Akhundzada, who lives in the movement’s heartland of Kandahar.
Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first reign from 1996 to 2001 – with most of them carried out in sports stadiums.
The latest executions unfolded in April this year, when four men were put to death in front of thousands of spectators.