The Taliban says it would revive punishments like executions in its new rule over Afghanistan, warning the world against interfering with the extremist groups new rule.
“Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, one of the founders of the extremist group, told The Associated Press, “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran.”
Turabi added that judges, including women, would preside over cases, but the basis of Afghanistan’s laws will be the Quran.
His comments come amid the exclusion of women from the country’s interim government.
Turabi was the Minister of Justice and Head of the religious Police when the Taliban first ruled in the 1990s; he is now in charge of prisons.
Under initial Taliban rule, convicted murderers were killed by a single gunshot to the head. The killing of a murderer was carried out by the victim’s family, who could accept “blood money” and allow the culprit to live.
For convicted thieves, the punishment was amputation of a hand and for robbery convictions, the punishment was the dismemberment of a hand and a foot.
These punishments were carried out before large crowds at a stadium or mosque and the judiciary favoured Islamic clerics, whose knowledge of the law was limited to religious injunctions.
In August, the Taliban took control of Kabul and rapidly captured Afghanistan. In reconstructing the country, the extremist group has said it is ready to build relations that serves both United States and Afghan interests though countries like China have vocally supported the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan.