KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Five individuals, including a woman, were publicly flogged by the Taliban in Takhar province, northeastern Afghanistan, on Thursday, February 13, after being charged with “adultery” and “sodomy.”
The punishment took place on Thursday, February 13, in a sports stadium in the Yangi Qala district, where each person received 39 lashes, as announced by the Taliban Supreme Court. The court also sentenced them to prison terms ranging from six months to one year.
This incident is part of a broader pattern of corporal punishment by the Taliban since their return to power in 2021.
In recent months, hundreds of people, including women and LGBTQ+ individuals, have been publicly flogged on charges the Taliban describes as “moral corruption.” Since the start of February, at least 27 individuals, including four women, have been flogged across Afghanistan.
A recent report to the UN Security Council by Secretary-General António Guterres documented the flogging of 108 individuals, including 26 women and a girl, over a three-month period.
The Taliban have also conducted at least six public executions for murder in recent years.
Human rights groups, the UN, and activists have strongly condemned the Taliban’s use of corporal punishment and executions, calling it a violation of basic human rights that instills fear among Afghans. The Taliban, however, defends its actions as enforcement of Sharia law and dismisses critics as either misinterpreting or opposing Islam.
