Taliban Punished 12 People in Front of Thousands for Moral Crimes Including Gay Sex
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Twelve people were flogged in front of thousands of witnesses in a football stadium in Afghanistan, found guilty of “moral crimes” including adultery, robbery and gay sex, a Taliban official told the BBC.
This is thought to be the second time in a month the Islamist group has carried out public lashings.
The move could signal a return to the hard-line practices seen in the previous Taliban rule in the 1990s.
Omar Mansoor Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman for Logar region in eastern Afghanistan, where the lashings happened, said that all three women were freed after they were punished. Some of the men were jailed, he said, but it is not clear how many.
The men and women received between 21 and 39 lashes each. The maximum number a person can receive is 39, another Taliban official said.
Nineteen people were also punished last week in a similar flogging in Takhar province in northern Afghanistan, reports say.
The flogging in Logar province comes a week after the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, ordered judges to enforce punishments for certain crimes in line with the group’s strict reading of Islamic Sharia law.
This interpretation of Islamic law includes public executions, public amputations and stoning – although exact crimes and corresponding punishments have not been officially defined by the Taliban.
@viceworldnews Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has ordered Afghan judges to impose their interpretation of Sharia – Islamic law. #afghanistan #afghan #sharia #humanrights #womensrights ♬ original sound – VICE World News
The group’s “Supreme Court” confirmed the conviction of “14 people, including three women, who were lashed, and attended by scholars, authorities, and people” in a statement on Twitter.
US Slams Taliban for Publicly Flogging Afghan Men and Women https://t.co/3IkXybrD6m
— HumQadam TV (@HumQadamTV) November 24, 2022
The wave of public punishments comes a week after the Taliban announced that it will be “implementing Sharia Law” in full force across the country. Scenes such as the flogging resemble the group’s previous stint in power in the late 90s, which featured public executions, stoning, and other forms of corporal punishments.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister, during a police academy graduation in Herat on Wednesday, said that “the world will eventually come to a point to recognise the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan.” So far, no countries have recognised the Taliban as the legitimate government since it took over in August 2021.
Afghanistan: Taliban’s cruel return to hardline practices with public floggings need to be halted immediately
“The public flogging of women and men is a cruel and shocking return to out-and-out hardline practices by the Taliban.” https://t.co/OsjzJvTPIr
— Natiq Malikzada (@natiqmalikzada) November 24, 2022
Responding to the public flogging of three women and 11 men on Wednesday on the orders of a Taliban court on charges of theft and moral crimes in Logar province of Afghanistan, Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, said:
“The public flogging of women and men is a cruel and shocking return to out-and-out hardline practices by the Taliban. It violates the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment under international law and should not be carried out under any circumstances.
The public flogging of women and men is a cruel and shocking return to out-and-out hardline practices by the Taliban.
Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner
“The Taliban continue to ignore widespread criticism as they flagrantly flout basic human rights principles in an alarming slide into what looks like a grim reminder of their rule three decades ago. These outrageous punishments are just another step in the legalization of inhuman practices by the Taliban’s cruel justice system and expose the de-facto authorities’ complete disregard for international human rights law.
“The criminal practice of public flogging and all other forms of corporal punishments must be immediately and unconditionally stopped and a formal justice mechanism with fair trials and access to legal remedies must be put in place. The international community must immediately intensify its efforts to ensure the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan abolish all cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments.”
The Taliban continue to ignore widespread criticism as they flagrantly flout basic human rights principles in an alarming slide into what looks like a grim reminder of their rule three decades ago.
Samira Hamidi
Background:
On Sunday 14 November, the Taliban Supreme leader gave an obligatory order for full implementation of sharia law in Afghanistan.
Since then, the Taliban have carried out several public floggings on women and men accusing them of adultery, theft, same-sex sexual conduct or kidnapping, in different provinces in Afghanistan.
This interpretation of Islamic law includes public executions, public amputations and stoning – which were carried out during the Taliban’s first rule that ended in late 2001.
As the Taliban captured power in August 2021, they promised a more moderate rule in the country including respect to women’s rights.
Amnesty International has documented the Taliban’s continued escalation of human rights violations and abuses since they took control of Afghanistan in August 2021. This includes extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances, repression of women and girls, and censorship on media and other restrictions of freedom of expression.
