KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban authorities have publicly flogged 14 people, including three women, in northern and western Afghanistan, according to statements from the group’s supreme court.
In a statement on Sunday, the court said six individuals, including two women, were punished in Qosh Tepa district of Jawzjan province on Saturday on charges including “illicit relations, insulting Taliban officials, breaking the fast, and adultery.” Each received up to 39 lashes and prison sentences of up to two years.
In northern Balkh province’s Zari district, a woman accused of illicit relations was flogged on Sunday, receiving 39 lashes and a five-year prison sentence, the court said in a separate statement.
In western Herat province, seven people were publicly flogged on Sunday on charges related to the production, purchase, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages. The court said each was given 39 lashes and sentenced to two years in prison.
The punishments reflect a continuing rise in public corporal punishments carried out by Taliban authorities since their return to power in August 2021, with sentences regularly announced by the group’s supreme court.
In its annual report for 2025, a UK-based Afghan rights group recorded 857 cases of public corporal punishment across the country, including 114 involving women, marking an increase of more than 60% compared with the previous year.
The UN and international rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the punishments as cruel and degrading, urging the Taliban to halt the practice and adhere to international human rights standards. Taliban defends the floggings as consistent with their interpretation of Islamic law and essential for maintaining social order, dismissing external criticism as interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
