Afghanistan: Taliban admits to killing Afghan Comedian in Kandahar; hands tied, kidnapped

The Taliban has admitted the murder of an Afghan comedian, who was a police officer in Afghanistan. In a statement on Thursday, July 29, the rogue militant group accepted that they had beaten Fazal Mohammad, popularly known as "Khasha Zwan", to death. Mohammad was better known for the amusing videos that he posted on his social media. According to reports, he was stationed in southern Kandahar province before he was taken away by the Taliban.

The Taliban admitted Mohammad's execution after videos and pictures, which recorded the brutal torture he underwent, went viral on the internet. The videos showed that Zwan was tied up and beaten by two men in the car. He was also slapped repeatedly while he was groped by the two men. Another clip was shared by the Taliban, which showed his dead body after brutality. Take a look at the video shared by Human Rights activist Family Baloch on her Twitter handle. The roughly filmed video shows one of the Taliban gunmen manhandling Mohammad.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid announced the Taliban's responsibility behind the death of the policeman-cum-comedian. They alleged that Mohammad was not a comedian, instead he "fought several battles" against the militant group. Apparently, he even tried to flee when he was detained previously, this prompted the gunmen to kill him, Mujahid claimed. The spokesperson also refuted the claim of Mohammad being a policeman, "he was responsible for many deaths," Mujahid added.

Police Commander Sailab, Mohammad's immediate superior, told an agency that Mohammad was just a comedian deployed to entertain the checkpoint officers. He was not in combat, he added.

The Taliban initially denied any involvement with the death of the Afghan comedian until the videos surfaced online. According to the statement by the rogue force, they strictly prohibit any form of entertainment in and around their territory. The militant group is accused of targeted killings of journalists, judges and activists. Recently, the world grieved the death of Reuters Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who was killed in a crossfire between the Afghan and Taliban forces.

Netizens have strongly criticized the killing of Afghan comedians

"The innocent face of Khasha hurts the heart of every human. They (Taliban) have shot him dead, they are the cruelest people in the world," a post on Facebook said. The Taliban is hostile to any form of art, culture, art and freedom and are enemies to the nation, the Second Vice-president of Afghanistan wrote on Facebook.

(Image input: @FazilaBaloch/Twitter)