KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban publicly flogged a woman and a man in Afghanistan’s Paktika and Ghazni provinces amid a recent surge in corporal punishment.
In separate statements, the Taliban Supreme Court announced that the sentences were carried out in the presence of local authorities and residents following judicial approval.
The woman was punished in Ghazni’s Muqur district on Monday after being convicted of “moral corruption,” the statement said. She was sentenced to 20 lashes and one year in prison.
In Paktika’s Janikhel district, a man was flogged after being convicted of murder. He received 25 lashes and was sentenced to a year in prison, according to the court.
Public floggings have become a routine practice since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, with hundreds of individuals—including women, girls, and LGBTQ+ persons—subjected to such punishments for various alleged offenses.
The group has also carried out at least six public executions in recent years.
Human rights organizations, the United Nations, and advocacy groups have strongly condemned the Taliban’s use of corporal punishment and executions, denouncing them as violations of fundamental human rights and instruments of repression.
The Taliban, however, maintains that it is implementing Sharia law and dismisses such criticism as opposition to Islamic principles.
