Taliban kill child after father suspected of being resistance force member
The Taliban have executed a child in Takhar province of Afghanistan over suspicion that his father was a part of the Afghan resistance forces, reported Panjshir Observer, an independent media outlet that covers Panjshir and the situation in the country. "Child executed in Takhar province by Taliban fighters after his father is suspected of being in the Resistance. #WarCrimes #Afghanistan," Panjshir Observer said in a tweet.
The brutal killing of the child is the latest incident of the Taliban's crackdown on Afghans who raised voices against the outfit. The Taliban, who took over the war-torn country on August 15, promised there would be no revenge attacks but in Panjshir—the last province to fall to the Taliban—there have been reports of civilians getting shot as they attempt to escape. ABC, the US broadcast television network, reported last week that members of the resistance force and former government are being targeted in revenge killings across the country. "Five times they attacked my family," a young man from Panjshir told the ABC.
Also read | Ghani says Facebook page hacked after post calls for Taliban recognition
Another Panjshir local resident told the ABC that the Taliban were stopping people to ask them about their associations with the resistance movement or Afghanistan's previous government. "They take our mobiles and check them. If they find a suspicious photo, they kill that person," he said.
The Taliban on Monday ordered barbers in the southern Helmand province not to shave or trim beards, claiming their edict is in line with Sharia. The order was issued by the provincial Taliban government's vice and virtue department to barbers in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital. Last week, the Islamist fundamentalist on public display the bodies of four people who were killed after they allegedly carried out a kidnapping in the western city of Herat.
Also read | Kabul residents facing price rise, medicine shortage under Taliban rule: Report
The Taliban have been re-imposing repressive laws based on their version of Islamic Sharia law they enforced during their last regime in 1996-2001. They have also reestablished the dreaded ministry of propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, which ordered some of the most brutal killings during the Taliban’s last rule. It was notorious for enforcing the stricter interpretation of Sharia law and punishing the violators in a manner contradictory to international laws on human rights.
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