The Taliban have publicly executed a large number of people over the past five years, shooting them in front of crowds with their hands tied. In the latest case, the Hasht-e Subh Daily has obtained a video showing a 30-year-old man in Herat shot dead by the Taliban after being tortured and beaten, his hands bound. It remains unclear exactly how the incident unfolded. People close to the young man say that if he had committed a crime, the Taliban should have summoned him and brought him before their courts rather than shooting him in public with his hands tied. His mother has called on senior Taliban officials to investigate her son’s case. Sources had earlier confirmed that a man was killed by the Taliban in Herat on Friday.
Local sources shared a video showing a man shot after being tortured and having his hands bound. They identified him as 30-year-old Abdul Qadir Pahlawanzada. He was shot at five o’clock last Friday afternoon in Herat’s fourth district, at checkpoint number one near a fuel depot, by the brother-in-law of a Taliban commander. The video shows the young man being shot by an individual after being tortured with his hands tied.
According to sources, the video shows Sayed Ahmad Mohammadi, the Taliban’s security commander for Pashtun Zarghun district, along with his brother and brother-in-law. Sources say the commander carried out the killing because he had earlier persuaded his brother-in-law to let him marry his sister in exchange for the murder.
Sayed Ahmad Mohammadi, the Taliban's security commander for Pashtun Zarghun district, is accused of orchestrating the killing.
Sources say the man in the black vest seen in the video is the Taliban’s security commander for Pashtun Zarghun district. The man striking Abdul Qadir with a rifle butt is the commander’s brother, and the man who shoots him is the commander’s brother-in-law. According to sources, Abdul Qadir had ridden his motorcycle to the fuel depot, where he fell into the hands of the group.
Sources say the mother’s pleas have gone unheard, and that the Taliban have intimidated her into dropping the case.
According to sources, Abdul Qadir Pahlawanzada worked as a welder in Herat and had no ties to any group or movement. His family says he had no military background and had never previously been detained by the Taliban. They say the Taliban have refused to respond to or address the case.
To date, the Taliban have brought no charges against the man they killed, and have instead pressured his family, particularly his mother, to drop the matter.
Videos have previously emerged from Panjshir, Andarab, and Badakhshan showing the Taliban shooting people with their hands tied. The group has also shot dozens of people with their hands bound on charges of belonging to fronts opposed to the Taliban.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has documented extrajudicial killings and extrajudicial tribunals by the Taliban in several previous reports. A UNAMA report published in August 2023 found that between August 2021 and June 2023, the group killed at least 218 members of the security forces and former government. It also recorded 14 cases of enforced disappearance, more than 424 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, and more than 144 cases of torture and mistreatment.
