KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban authorities in southern Kandahar and northern Sar-e-Pol provinces publicly flogged 14 people on charges of adultery, sodomy, and theft.
In a newsletter released today by the office of the Taliban governor in Kandahar, the group said that 12 people underwent public flogging in a park in Spin Boldak city on Tuesday, June 11, with the participation of senior local authorities and dozens of people.
Meanwhile, the Taliban Supreme Court, in a statement, announced that they had publicly flogged two individuals on charges of adultery in Balkhab district, located in the northern Sar-e-Pol province, on Monday, June 10.
These incidents represent the most recent in a series of public floggings carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Over the past two years, the regime has publicly flogged dozens of people across the country, mostly for what the regime terms “moral crimes.”
Last week, the Taliban publicly flogged at least 63 individuals, including 15 women, at a sports stadium in Afghanistan’s northern Sar-e-Pol province for similar charges.
Following the Taliban’s public flogging last week, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern over the “continued and widespread” use of corporal punishment by the regime in Afghanistan.
The OHCHR called on the Taliban to immediately cease all forms of corporal punishment, including public floggings, emphasizing that such actions are a clear violation of international human rights law.
“We are deeply disturbed by the widespread, continued use of corporal punishment in Afghanistan. Corporal punishment is a clear violation of international human rights law,” said the UN human rights office.
“Afghanistan is party to both the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Under international law, all people have the right to be treated with respect for their inherent human dignity and equality,” it added.
Additionally, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennet, and the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), condemned the widespread flogging of both men and women in Sar-e-Pol last week.
In a statement on social media, Mr. Bennett emphasized that the Taliban’s public corporal punishment violates Afghanistan’s obligation to prohibit torture and other cruel and inhuman forms of punishment.
However, the Taliban argues that it enforces Sharia law in Afghanistan, accusing other countries and rights groups of either lacking sufficient understanding of Islamic laws or harboring biases against Islam.
