KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban Supreme Court has confirmed the public flogging of six individuals, including one woman, in northern Faryab and eastern Khost provinces.
In a statement released on Tuesday, February 18, the court revealed that three individuals, including a woman, were flogged in Faryab on charges of “running away from home,” “assisting in fleeing from home,” and “sodomy.”
Each received 39 lashes in front of local authorities and the public. They were also sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 months to two years, following the verdict of the provincial court.
In a separate incident, the Taliban highest court announced that three individuals were publicly flogged in Khost’s Bak district on charges of “sodomy” and “murder.” They also received 39 lashes each, with prison sentences ranging from one to six years.
These incidents mark the latest in a series of corporal punishments carried out by the Taliban since regaining control of Afghanistan in 2021. Over the past few months, the group has ramped up its use of flogging, with at least 33 people—including five women—publicly lashed across Afghanistan since early February.
The Taliban has also conducted at least six public executions in recent years.
Human rights organizations, the United Nations, and activists have strongly condemned these practices, calling them a violation of fundamental human rights and a means of instilling fear among the Afghan population.
The Taliban, however, defends its actions as the enforcement of Sharia law, accusing critics of misinterpreting or opposing Islam.
