The Taliban today publicly flogged 9 men in front of a large crowd inside a football stadium in Kandahar, the group’s birthplace and home to its supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The crowd were call on on Monday 16 January to gather and witness the spectacle at the city’s Ahmad Shahi Stadium.
KabulNow obtained a video from inside the stadium.
The 9 men, the Kandahar governor’s spokesperson, Ataullah Zayed, said “had committed theft and adultery” and were lashed between 35 to 39 times.
Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban has enacted public floggings for various accusations, including adultery, theft and drug taking. And on 07 Dec 2022, the group also carried its first public execution in the western city of Farah in the presence of its senior leadership, including interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a $10 million FBI award for information leading to his arrest , and foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
