RASC News Agency: The Taliban have continued their use of public corporal punishment, flogging two individuals in the Darqad district of Takhar province in northeastern Afghanistan on Sunday. According to a statement from the Taliban-controlled Supreme Court, the two men were accused of “theft and sodomy” and were each subjected to 39 lashes in full view of the public. The Taliban stated that the punishments were handed down by the district’s primary court. Over the past month alone, the Taliban have carried out public lashings against 85 individuals, including 12 women, across various provinces on charges ranging from theft to moral crimes.
Jowzjan and Khost provinces have reported the highest numbers of such cases, with 22 and 17 instances, respectively. Since reclaiming power three years ago, the Taliban have gradually reverted to their 1990s-era policies, reinstating public corporal punishments as a standard measure against those accused of crimes. Media analyses of statements from the Taliban’s judiciary reveal that, in the past three years, the group has implemented numerous extreme penalties, including stoning, execution, and “qisas” (retributive justice), sentencing at least 176 individuals to death under this system. Additionally, six more detainees currently await “qisas” rulings in Taliban prisons.
Global human rights organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, have consistently condemned these practices, deeming them violations of international human rights law. Calls for an immediate halt to public corporal punishments have grown louder as the Taliban’s actions escalate fears of systematic repression and the erosion of fundamental rights in Afghanistan.
