RASC News Agency: In a continuing campaign of repression, the Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that local courts in Kapisa, Uruzgan, and Kabul have sentenced 13 individuals, including a woman, to public lashings on charges of running away from home, engaging in extramarital relations, and theft. According to the Taliban’s statement, those subjected to floggings have also been sentenced to imprisonment, with terms ranging from seven months to two years. On Thursday, February 6, the Supreme Court issued multiple statements confirming that more than 10 individuals had been publicly flogged in Nijrab district of Kapisa, Charchino district of Uruzgan, and Kabul city.
Among them, those convicted of extramarital relations received 39 lashes and were sentenced to 18 months in prison. Meanwhile, in Kapisa, three individuals, including a woman, were punished for “running away from home” or assisting in an escape. Local sources confirmed that those flogged in Kapisa’s Nijrab district were also sentenced to seven months in prison. In a separate statement, the Taliban’s Supreme Court reported that nine individuals in Uruzgan were flogged 39 times each for theft. The Taliban have previously carried out similar public punishments in these provinces. The group continues to justify these acts as the enforcement of “Islamic Sharia” and regularly conducts public executions and corporal punishments across Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, February 5, the Taliban also flogged five individuals, including two women, in Kunduz and Faryab provinces, further cementing their rule through fear and intimidation.
