Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzadeh, the Taliban supreme leader, has ordered his group’s judges to “implement hudud and retribution” on criminals across Afghanistan.
In a tweet on Sunday night, the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the order was issued by Hebatullah Akhundzadeh in a meeting with judges.
“Those cases in which all the Sharia conditions of hudud and retribution have been completed, you (the judges) are obliged to implement Islamic penal law,” Mujahid wrote quoting Akhundzadeh.
According to the tweet of the Taliban spokesman, Akhundzadeh said: “This is the ruling of Sharia and my order, which is obligatory.”
“The cases of thieves, abductors and seditionists should be carefully investigated,” Akhundzadeh added.
Mujahid however did not explain in which meeting the leader of this group met with the judges and on which date this order was issued.
Previously, the Taliban’s general prosecutor’s office announced in a letter based on the order of Akhundzadeh that the prosecutor’s offices did not have the authority to supervise and investigate legal and criminal cases.
In this letter, it was stated that the cases under the prosecutor’s office should be sent to the court immediately so that the court can carry out the investigation and monitoring procedures.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that based on the new decision of the Taliban leader, from now on, the Taliban intelligence department will be responsible for investigating and monitoring legal and criminal cases.
Under Islamic law, hudud crimes (apostasy, revolt against the ruler, theft, highway robbery, adultery, slander, and drinking alcohol) carry penalties that include the amputation of hands and feet, flogging, and death.
