KABUL: An Afghan man convicted of murder was executed in public on Wednesday, the Taliban said, the first confirmation of such a sentence since the hard-line Islamists returned to power.

“The supreme court was instructed to implement this order of qisas in a public gathering of compatriots,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, referring to the “eye for an eye” justice in Islamic law.

Last month Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges to fully enforce aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings, and the amputation of limbs for thieves.

The Taliban have carried out several public floggings since then, but Wednesday’s execution in Farah, the capital of the province of the same name, is the first the Taliban have acknowledged.

The statement named the executed man as Tajmir, son of Ghulam Sarwar, and said he was a resident of Anjil district in Herat province.