KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban publicly flogged 49 people, including three women, across seven provinces in Afghanistan over the past week, the group’s supreme court announced, as corporal punishment continues to rise.
The punishments were carried out in Badakhshan, Paktia, Badghis, Maidan Wardak, Balkh, Jowzjan, and Farah provinces since Thursday last week, the court said in a series of announcements.
In Badakhshan province, two people, including a woman, were flogged on Tuesday on adultery charges. Each received 39 lashes and a one-year prison sentence, the court said.
In Paktia province, a man was lashed 10 times on Monday for allegedly threatening another person with death. He was also sentenced to three years in prison.
In Badghis province, two people were flogged on Sunday for breaking fast during Ramadan. Each received 20 lashes and a two-month prison term.
In Maidan Wardak province, two people were punished on Sunday for theft, receiving 39 lashes each and a 2.5-year prison sentence.
In Balkh province, a man was flogged 39 times on Thursday last week for an “illicit relationship and adultery” and sentenced to two years in prison.
The court said 27 people, including two women, were also flogged on Thursday in cases involving the production, use, sale, and purchase of alcoholic beverages, breaking fast, and mistreating parents. Each received between 20 and 39 lashes.
In Farah province, 14 people were flogged on the same day on charges of sodomy, with each receiving between 20 and 39 lashes, the court added.
The latest incidents follow similar punishments a week earlier, when at least 45 people, including seven women, were publicly flogged across the country, indicating a sustained increase in such practices in recent months.
According to a United Nations report citing Taliban figures, at least 1,110 people were flogged across Afghanistan in 2025, including at least 170 women, nearly double the 567 recorded in 2024.
The United Nations and international rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly condemned the punishments as cruel, inhuman, and degrading, and have called for an immediate end to public floggings and other forms of corporal punishment.
Taliban authorities defend the punishment as consistent with their interpretation of Islamic law and say it is necessary to deter crime and maintain social order. They have rejected international criticism as biased against Islam and as interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
