KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban publicly flogged nine people, including four women, in two provinces on charges ranging from adultery to running away from home, amid a recent increase in corporal punishment across Afghanistan.
The Taliban Supreme Court said in a statement that four men and three women, convicted of adultery and fleeing their homes, were whipped in Sghar district of Ghor province on Monday. Each received between 30 and 39 lashes in public, along with prison terms of up to two years.
In a separate case in Azra district of Logar province on Wednesday, one man and one woman were each sentenced to one year in prison and 20 lashes for “running away from home,” the court said.
These incidents are part of a broader pattern. Over the past four years, the Taliban have publicly flogged hundreds of people, including women, children, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, for alleged “immoral crimes.”
International rights groups, the UN, and activists have strongly condemned the Taliban’s use of corporal punishment and executions, calling them cruel, inhuman, and violations of international law. They have repeatedly urged the regime to halt the practice and to respect fundamental human rights.
The Taliban defends the practice as enforcement of Sharia law, accusing international critics of misunderstanding Islam or holding biases against the religion.
