Afghanistan | Taliban Executed Six People, Flogged More Than 1,100 In 2025

The Taliban said six people were executed during the 2025 calendar year under orders issued by the group’s leader, while at least 1,118 others were publicly flogged by Taliban courts across Afghanistan.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, said in a statement posted on X on Thursday that the executions were carried out in the provinces of Farah, Nimruz, Badghis and Khost after court rulings and approval by the Taliban leader. He said the punishments were imposed under the principle of retribution, or qisas.

According to the figures released by Fitrat, Taliban courts flogged 1,118 people over the past year on charges described as “un-Islamic acts”. These included drug trafficking and use, theft, sodomy, adultery, the use of counterfeit currency, illicit relationships and highway robbery.

Fitrat also said Taliban courts reviewed 241,799 criminal and civil cases during the year.

International organisations repeatedly condemned executions and public punishments carried out by the Taliban in 2025, particularly public floggings.

The United Nations has called for an immediate halt to what it described as inhuman punishments, including executions and corporal punishment. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has said public executions violate international human rights standards and has urged an end to the use of the death penalty.

In statements issued throughout 2025, Amnesty International criticised what it described as injustice, the absence of clear legal frameworks and the lack of fair trial guarantees, calling for increased diplomatic pressure to end rights-violating judicial practices in Afghanistan.

In its 2025 reports, Human Rights Watch warned of intensified repression and widespread violations of fundamental rights under Taliban rule, describing the judicial system as a tool of repression.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have executed at least 12 people in the provinces of Farah, Laghman, Ghazni, Jowzjan, Badghis and Nimruz, often in public and in the presence of large crowds.

The most recent execution took place in Khost province in December 2025, according to Taliban officials.

Source: afintl.com, Staff, January 1, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Iran | Executions in Shiraz, Borazjan, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Ardabil, Rasht, Ghaemshahr, Neishabur

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 23, 2025: Mahin Rashidi, Abbas Alami, Naser Faraji, Tohid Barzegar and Jamshid Amirfazli, five co-defendants on death row for drug-related offences, were secretly executed in a group hanging in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men and a woman were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 17 December 2025. Their identities have been established as Mahin Rashidi, a 39-year-old woman, Abbas Alami, 43, Naser Faraji, 38, Tohid Barzegar, 51, and Jamshid Amirfazli, 45, all Kashan natives.

M Ravi, the man who defied Singapore regime's harassment, dies

M Ravi never gave up despite the odds stacked against him by the Singapore regime, which has always used its grip on the legal process to silence critics. M Ravi, one of Singapore's best-known personalities who was at the forefront of legal cases challenging the PAP regime over human rights violations, has died. He was 56. The news has come as a shock to friends and activists. Singapore's The Straits Times reported that police were investigating the "unnatural death".

California | Convicted killer Scott Peterson keeps swinging in court — but expert says he’s not going anywhere but his cell

More than two decades after Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, California, home, the murder case that captivated the nation continues to draw legal challenges, public debate and renewed attention. As the year comes to a close, Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son Conner, remains behind bars, serving life without the possibility of parole. His wife disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002, and a few months later, the remains of Laci and Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay.

Singapore | Prolific lawyer M Ravi, known for drug death-penalty cases, found dead

Ravi Madasamy, a high-profile lawyer who represented death-row inmates and campaigned against capital punishment, was found dead in the early hours, prompting a police investigation into an unnatural death KUALA LUMPUR — Prolific Singapore lawyer Ravi Madasamy who tried to save Malaysian drug traffickers from the gallows found dead in the early hours with police investigating a case of unnatural death. Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, who had previously represented 56-year-old Ravi in court and described him as a friend, said he was deeply saddened by the news.

USA | Justice Department Encourages New Capital Charges Against Commuted Federal Death Row Prisoners

On Dec. 23, 2024, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. commuted the sentences of nearly all federal death row prisoners, sparing 37 men from execution. Just 28 days later, on Jan. 20, 2025, newly inaugurated President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order encouraging state and local prosecutors to pursue new charges against those same prisoners, reopening the possibility of capital punishment in state courts.

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application. Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Florida executes Frank Walls

Florida executes man convicted of killing airman and girlfriend in 1987 home invasion. Frank Walls, put to death for 1987 double murder, confessed to 3 other killings; state carries out 19th execution of year. Florida executed a man Thursday convicted of fatally shooting a man and a woman during a home invasion robbery and who later confessed to 3 other killings, marking the state’s 19th execution of the year. Frank Athen Walls, 58, received a 3-drug injection at about 6 p.m. at the Florida State Prison near Starke and was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. He was sentenced to death in 1988 after convictions on 2 counts of murder, 2 counts of kidnapping and burglary and theft.

Florida’s execution pace tests the limits of the law — and its workforce

When something goes wrong, prison staff absorb the consequences. Florida’s execution pace is testing the limits of the law — and its workforce. I spent years inside Florida’s execution chamber as warden of Florida State Prison, personally overseeing three executions. I know what it takes to carry out a death sentence, and it permanently changed my view of capital punishment. That experience is why a recent lawsuit filed by death row inmate Frank Walls in advance of his scheduled execution Thursday should concern every Floridian.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog