Taliban Flog Three People, Including a Woman, in Laghman and Badakhshan
The Supreme Court of the Taliban has announced that three individuals, including a woman, were publicly flogged in the provinces of Laghman and Badakhshan.
According to a statement issued by the court, a man and a woman in Laghman province were sentenced to 30 lashes and six months in prison each on charges of “running away from home” and “aiding someone to flee home.” The sentence was carried out on Monday, June 2.
In a separate case in Badakhshan province, a man was publicly flogged with 39 lashes on charges of selling alcoholic beverages. The sentence was reportedly issued by the Badakhshan Court of Appeals.
Taliban authorities have stated that these actions are part of the implementation of Sharia law and the group’s penal codes. However, international human rights organizations have once again expressed concern over the continuation and intensification of public punishments in Afghanistan.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, criticized the increase in such punishments and called for an immediate halt to public floggings. He also emphasized that the Taliban should not be “normalized” and that Afghan refugees should not be forcibly returned.
Previously, international human rights organizations had also condemned public floggings as violations of human dignity and inconsistent with international human rights obligations.
The increase in such punishments in recent months is seen as a sign of the Taliban’s growing hardline stance on social and judicial matters in Afghanistan.
