The Taliban has publicly flogged 13 individuals, including five women, in the provinces of Jowzjan and Khost, as part of a growing wave of corporal punishments across Afghanistan.
In a statement on Saturday, the Taliban’s Supreme Court confirmed that two women were lashed in Jowzjan’s Darzab district on Thursday, after being convicted of “illicit relationships” and “running away from home.” Each woman received 39 lashes and was sentenced to three years in prison.
A separate statement detailed the public flogging of three women and eight men in Khost province on the same day. Charges included adultery, illicit relationships, theft, and insulting religious symbols. The court said each person was given between 35 and 39 lashes and received prison sentences ranging from two to five years.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has reinstated corporal punishment as a key component of its judicial system. Hundreds of individuals including women and members of the LGBTQ+ community have been publicly flogged in recent years.
In February alone, at least 60 people, including 12 women, were subjected to public lashings. The Taliban has also resumed public executions, with at least 10 confirmed since 2021. Most recently, four people were executed in three separate provinces on Friday, April 11.
The United Nations and international human rights groups have strongly condemned the floggings and executions, calling them violations of international law and fundamental human rights. They have called for an immediate end to such practices.
The Taliban, however, continues to defend these punishments, saying they are in accordance with their interpretation of Sharia law and accusing international critics of misinterpreting or opposing Islam.
