The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that two individuals, including a woman, have been sentenced to corporal punishment on charges of “illicit relations.”
According to a statement from the court, the two were sentenced on Wednesday, May 28, by the Primary Court of Deh Sabz district in Kabul. Each was given one year and six months of imprisonment and 39 lashes.
The statement added that the court issued the verdict after reviewing the case files and based on Sharia law and the legal framework currently enforced under Taliban rule.
Since the Taliban’s return to power, corporal punishments—particularly public flogging—have become a routine practice within the group’s judicial system and are carried out frequently in different parts of the country. This practice has repeatedly drawn strong condemnation from international human rights organizations.
The Taliban, however, dismiss such criticism as interference in the country’s internal affairs and continue to insist on enforcing Sharia law based on their strict and hardline interpretation.
