KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban carried out public floggings of three men in eastern Khost and one in southern Zabul provinces, as announced by the regime’s highest court.
In a statement, the Taliban Supreme Court confirmed that three individuals were flogged for sodomy in Ismail Khel district of Khost province on Sunday, January 5. Each received 39 lashes in front of local authorities and a crowd of onlookers.
In a separate statement, the court revealed the flogging of a man for allegedly assisting a woman in fleeing her home in Zabul province. The man was also lashed 39 times and sentenced to one year in prison.
Since regaining power in August 2021, the Taliban has reinstated strict Sharia law, akin to their rule in the late 1990s. This includes corporal punishments such as public floggings and stonings, as well as public executions of Afghans for various charges.
The regime has already carried out six public executions for murder and subjected hundreds of individuals, including women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, to public floggings across the country.
In a report submitted to the UN Security Council last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres documented the flogging of 108 individuals, including 26 women and a girl, in Afghanistan over the past three months.
Despite repeated calls from the UN, human rights groups, and activists over the years to end such “inhuman” practices, Taliban leaders insist on their continuation, arguing that they are enforcing Sharia law in Afghanistan.
