Breitbart.com reports: “Public executions are a part of Islam, a leader of the Afghanistan terrorist organization vowed Saturday, days after four men were killed by gunfire as cheering crowds watched on.

The executions took place in packed sports stadiums and represent the highest number known to have been carried out in one day since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Rights groups and the U.N. condemned the killings while Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has previously rejected the need for Western laws in Afghanistan, AP reports.

‘We will not abandon the enforcement of these rulings, even if it costs us our lives,’ Akhundzada said during a religious seminar in Kandahar, referring specifically to the punishment of qisas, or retributive justice. ‘We will not yield to Western pressure.’…”