KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban publicly flogged 32 people, including women, in multiple provinces over the past three days, authorities said, amid a sharp rise in the group’s use of corporal punishment in recent months.
In separate statements, the Taliban Supreme Court announced the punishments, which included up to 39 lashes in public and prison terms of up to eight years, approved by the group’s highest judicial authority.
In Ghor province, a woman accused of “moral corruption” was lashed 10 times in Saghar district on Thursday. In Nimruz province, 17 people were publicly flogged for charges including “illicit relationships, sodomy, beating their father, and theft,” receiving between 15 and 39 lashes each, along with prison terms of five months to eight years.
In Balkh province, one person received 30 lashes for sodomy in Shor Tepa district on Thursday. Six people in Nangarhar province were lashed 20 times each on Wednesday for breaking their fast during Ramadan, with two-month prison sentences.
In Paktika province, two people were lashed 39 times each for illicit relationships in Jani Khel district and sentenced to two years in prison. Five others, including a woman, were flogged in Bala Bolok district of Farah province for illicit relationships and theft on Tuesday, receiving up to 39 lashes.
The latest floggings come amid a documented surge in such punishments. United Nations experts reported that the Taliban’s Supreme Court announced public floggings of at least 1,110 individuals in 2025, including at least 170 women — nearly double the 567 people flogged in 2024.
Early data for 2026 suggest the trend is continuing, with 162 people publicly flogged in January alone, marking one of the highest monthly totals since the practice was officially resumed in late 2022.
The UN and international rights groups have repeatedly condemned the punishments as cruel, inhuman, and degrading, urging the Taliban to halt public floggings and comply with international human rights standards.
Taliban authorities, however, defend the practice as consistent with their interpretation of Islamic law and necessary for maintaining social order, dismissing international criticism as interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
