RASC News Agency: On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, the Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that two individuals accused of extramarital relations were publicly flogged in Ghazni province. According to a statement released on Tuesday, December 10, the punishment was carried out in the Muqur district in the presence of a public gathering. The court reported that one of the accused was sentenced to three years in prison and subjected to 39 lashes, while the other received a five-year prison term alongside 39 lashes. Media reports indicate that in less than three years, the Taliban has subjected 715 individuals to public flogging.
These punishments, issued through the Taliban’s extrajudicial courts, were executed between September 2022 and August 2023. Additionally, the group has conducted public executions of six individuals in stadiums within this period. Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has urged the Taliban to adhere to international human rights commitments. However, over the past three years, the Taliban has arbitrarily whipped, detained, and executed thousands without judicial due process or accountability.
Afghanistan currently stands as one of the only countries in the world operating without a constitution. Instead, the decrees of Taliban leaders and commanders are treated as binding law, enforced across the nation. This lawlessness has instilled deep fear among citizens, many of whom recount instances of arbitrary arrests, transfers to undisclosed locations, and brutal torture for acts or behaviors deemed objectionable by Taliban authorities.
