KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban has publicly flogged five individuals, including two women, on various charges in Kabul, Maidan Wardak, and Kandahar provinces over the past two days.
The Taliban Supreme Court, in multiple newsletters over the past 24 hours, announced that these individuals were flogged on charges of “illicit relations,” “theft,” and “running away from home.”
According to the Taliban statement, these individuals received between 32 and 39 lashes each and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2.5 to 3 years.
Since their return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has made corporal punishment a central element of its penal system. Since then, the regime has publicly flogged hundreds of men and women in sports stadiums across the country.
Over the past three years, hundreds of people across Afghanistan, including women and members of the LGBT+ community, have been publicly flogged or had body parts amputated for crimes such as adultery, sodomy, and theft.
The regime has also publicly executed at least five individuals convicted of murder across the country.
In its quarterly report released last month, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented at least 179 cases of corporal punishment in the past three months, including the flogging of 28 women and 4 boys.
“For example, on 4 June in Sar-e-Pul city, 63 people were publicly flogged by the de facto authorities,15 (48 men and 15 women) having been convicted of a range of crimes, including armed robbery, adultery, running away from home and pederasty,” UNAMA said.
The UN and international human rights organizations have condemned the Taliban’s use of corporal punishment and public executions, highlighting that these practices are prohibited under international human rights law and calling for their immediate cessation.
The Taliban, however, has ignored international criticism and calls to end corporal punishment. Its leader has emphasized the continuation of these practices, saying that he is enforcing Sharia law in Afghanistan.
