The Taliban’s ruthless grip on Afghanistan was once again laid bare on Friday, August 22, when its fighters shot a man dead and hanged his body from an old tank in Herat, drawing sharp condemnation from rights activists who branded the act a summary execution and a grotesque violation of human dignity.
The execution, staged at the busy Kandahar Gate, attracted a large crowd forced to witness the Taliban’s spectacle of violence. Disturbing videos circulating on social media captured Taliban members not only hanging the victim’s body but also kicking his head and face as bystanders filmed the macabre scene.
A Taliban fighter in the footage claimed the man belonged to the armed opposition group “Nahzat Azadi-Bakhsh Islami Mardom Afghanistan,” accusing him of involvement in an attack earlier this week that killed two Taliban members, including Mawlawi Hassan Akhund, the commander of the Taliban’s 10th security district in Herat. A chilling note was pinned to the body, reading: “Death to the Nahzat Azadi-Bakhsh Afghanistan group.”
In a contradictory account, however, the Taliban’s Herat police command later issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, alleging the victim was merely suspected of theft. The statement said he had been identified by residents, detained during a Taliban operation, and “eliminated.”
Human rights defenders described the killing as another stark reminder of the Taliban’s systematic abuse of power. “Taking away someone’s right to life without a fair trial and due process is a blatant violation of human rights,” said activist Hadi Farzam. “Hanging the body in public after the killing is a direct affront to human dignity.”
Women’s rights campaigners also denounced the regime’s so-called justice system. A member of the Window of Hope women’s movement told that Taliban-run courts deny defendants basic rights. “The Taliban’s use of executions and corporal punishment is intensifying, and taking away the right to life contradicts both justice and Islamic principles,” she said.
The Herat execution is not an isolated incident. The Taliban have repeatedly used public killings as a tool of terror. Last year, four men accused of kidnapping were shot and hanged in the same city, while earlier this year, four more people were executed in Farah, Nimroz, and Badghis provinces.
Rights groups warn that these gruesome spectacles are not only unlawful but are deliberately staged to instill fear and reinforce the Taliban’s authoritarian rule. The Herat incident, they say, underscores the regime’s increasing reliance on spectacle violence to crush dissent and silence opposition in defiance of international human rights norms.
