Eye-for-an-eye sharia justice returns to Afghan courts

Many women were recruited into the system, overseeing cases involving hardcore Taliban militants as well as bringing more gender balance to family courts.

Kneeling in front of a turbanned judge in a tiny room at the Ghazni Court of Appeal in eastern Afghanistan, an old man sentenced to death for murder pleads for his life.

The 75-year-old admits to having shot dead a relative -- out of revenge, he says, because of rumours he had sexual relations with his daughter-in-law.

Under eye-for-eye sharia punishments, officially ordered by the Taliban's supreme leader for the first time last month, he faces public execution — with the sentence to be carried out by a relative of his victim.

"We have made peace between the families," the old man pleads.

"I have witnesses who can prove that we have agreed on compensation."

AFP had rare access to a court in Ghazni to see how sharia justice is being administered since the Taliban returned to power in August last year.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent building a new judicial system after the Taliban were overthrown in 2001 — a combination of Islamic and secular law, with qualified prosecutors, defence lawyers and judges.