KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban authorities publicly flogged nine people, including three women, in Afghanistan’s Parwan and Uruzgan provinces in recent days, amid a recent surge in the use of corporal punishment across the country.
In a statement on Saturday, the Taliban Supreme Court said that eight people, including three women, were publicly flogged in Bagram district of Parwan province on Wednesday for “illicit relationships,” each receiving 39 lashes and prison terms of one to four years.
Separately, in Uruzgan province on Thursday, the court said a man was publicly lashed 30 times for “insulting and disrespecting” his father and sentenced to five months in prison.
Taliban authorities have ramped up the use of public corporal punishment in recent weeks, with hundreds of people flogged across multiple provinces on charges including moral offenses, theft, and other violations.
Human rights groups and United Nations experts have condemned the punishments as cruel, inhuman and degrading, arguing they violate international human rights standards, and have urged an immediate end to such practices.
Taliban authorities defend the measures as compliant with their interpretation of Islamic law and essential for preserving social order, despite widespread domestic and international criticism.
