KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced the public flogging of 13 people, including three women, in the provinces of Parwan, Ghazni, and Kapisa.
In a statement on Wednesday, the court said five individuals, including one woman, were flogged in the Bagram district of Parwan province on charges of adultery. Each received 39 lashes and was sentenced to between two and three years in prison.
In a separate case, on the same day, two people were flogged in public in the Waghaz district of Ghazni province on charges of sodomy. Both received 30 lashes; one was sentenced to one year in prison, the other to three months.
In a third incident on Monday, the court reported six individuals, including two women, were publicly flogged in Hesa-e-Awal and Hesa-e-Dowom districts of Kapisa province. Four of them, including the women, were accused of fleeing home and engaging in illicit relationships, while the remaining two were convicted of sodomy and rape. The first group received 39 lashes each, while the latter two were given 22 lashes. Four were sentenced to one year in prison, and two to six months.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has reinstated corporal punishment as a central pillar of its judicial system, publicly lashing dozens of individuals, including women and LGBTQ+ people, across the country.
Public floggings have escalated in recent months. In February alone, at least 60 people, including 12 women, were whipped in public. The Taliban has also conducted at least six public executions in recent years.
The United Nations and international human rights organizations have condemned the Taliban’s use of corporal punishment, describing it as a violation of international human rights law and urging an immediate end to the practice.
The Taliban, however, has defended the punishments, claiming they are by Sharia law.
