KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban publicly flogged three individuals in Kabul on charges of “purchasing, selling, and possessing alcoholic beverages, cannabis, and other intoxicants,” the group’s Supreme Court announced.
In a statement, the court stated each person received between 10 and 39 lashes and was sentenced to prison terms ranging from two months to two years.
The punishment was carried out Thursday in the presence of Taliban officials and the public after receiving Supreme Court approval, it added.
The incident is the latest in a series of public punishments since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. In February alone, at least 83 people—18 of them women—were publicly flogged across Afghanistan.
In his latest report, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, documented at least 311 cases of corporal punishment, including 47 women, in the second half of 2024. He noted that this marks a 22% increase compared to the first half of the year.
Human rights organizations, the United Nations, and activists have strongly condemned this practice, calling it 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.
