The Taliban administration held the first official public execution of a man convicted of murder, Reuters reports.

The execution took place in the western province of Farah. The man was accused of stabbing a man to death in 2017, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The case was investigated by three courts and sanctioned by the group's top spiritual leader, who lives in southern Kandahar province.

According to Mujahid, more than a dozen high-ranking Taliban officials attended the execution, including acting interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and acting deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, as well as the president of the country's Supreme Court.

Earlier, the country's Supreme Court sentenced more than 10 men and women accused of offenses such as robbery and adultery to public flogging.

Last month, a representative of the U.N. Office for Human Rights called on the Taliban authorities to immediately stop using public flogging in Afghanistan.

According to a court statement, the Taliban's supreme spiritual leader met with judges in November and said they should apply punishments in accordance with Sharia law.

Public floggings and executions by stoning occurred during the previous Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.