KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban publicly flogged 63 individuals, including 15 women, on multiple charges in a sports stadium in the northern province of Sar-e-Pol on Tuesday, June 4.
Habibullah Masror, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Sar-e-Pol, has said that the individuals were flogged for offenses including “armed attacks, adultery, sodomy, and running away from home.”
According to the Taliban spokesman, the accused individuals received sentences ranging from 15 to 39 lashes each, following approval from the regime’s supreme court and its supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Yesterday, the press office of the Taliban governor in Sar-e-Pol issued a call for the province’s residents to gather at the stadium and witness the punishment of these individuals.
After retaking power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban’s supreme leader declared their intention to enforce a strict version of Sharia law, which includes public executions, stonings, floggings, and amputations for thieves.
Since then, the regime has made public corporal punishment a central component of its penal system. As a result, the regime has publicly flogged dozens of people, including women and LGBT+ individuals, on various charges across Afghanistan in the past two years.
Additionally, the Taliban has also continued to carry out public executions of individuals on various charges. The regime has publicly executed at least five people in the country over the past years.
The United Nations and many rights organizations have condemned the Taliban’s form of punishment and criticized the legitimacy of the regime’s courts, particularly when accused individuals are denied the right to legal representation and the opportunity to defend themselves.
However, the fundamentalist regime in power in Afghanistan says that it enforces Sharia law in the country. It accuses other countries and organizations of either lacking sufficient knowledge or having disagreements with Islam.
The Taliban leader has recently stressed the continuation of corporal punishment, including beatings and stonings of women in public. He mentioned that while such punishments might not be in favor of Western democracies, the regime would continue to implement them in Afghanistan.
“In your view, stoning is a violation of women’s rights. In the near future, we plan to enforce the punishment for adultery, which includes publicly stoning and flogging women,” the Taliban leader said, pointing toward Western countries. “Just as you claim to strive to save and liberate humanity, so do I. You represent Satan, and I represent God. As Allah says, ‘The party of Allah will prevail,’” he added.
