Several Media Outlets Withdraw Published Reports of Afghan Women’s Demonstration in Kabul

According to Hamidi, the reason for the release of such criminals had been corruption at the high-level government bodies.

Ashraf Ghani had pardoned and released 5,000 Taliban prisoners to support the peace process in 2020.

In an exclusive interview with Afghanistan International, Hamidi said that among these 5,000 people, the presidential palace of Afghanistan released 700 dangerous criminals who were not members of the Taliban and should not have been included in the amnesty list.

He accused Ghani's government of bypassing the Afghan justice system in the case of big criminals like Anas Haqqani and releasing them through a political deal.

The previous Afghan government has been criticised extensively for its corruption cases and that is why Afghanistan has been on the list of the most corrupt governments in the world.

These women stressed that without active participation of women, there will not any progress in any society.

The demonstrators emphasised that they will not stop holding the protests until the rights of Afghan women are respected.

The Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on Afghan women after taking power in August 2021.

During this period, however, Afghan women repeatedly held demonstrations and protested against the violation of their human rights.

In the past, Taliban have not only suppressed the demands of the women rights activists, but they have brutally cracked down on these demonstrations and have in many cases arrested women rights activists.

According to the Logar local media center, Akhundazada, while flogging these people, emphasised that the implementation of Hudud and the implementation of Sharia law is important.

He said that on the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, they will implement "Hodud". He added that the cases of the accused have been investigated and they have confessed to their crimes.

Mawlawi Enayatullah Shoja, the deputy governor of the Taliban for Logar, also said that the purpose of the Taliban is to strengthen the Islamic system and implement Sharia law.

Shoja stressed that the implementation of Sharia is the solution to Afghanistan's major challenges.

Images posted on social media show that hundreds of people had gathered at the football stadium to watch the flogging.

Hudud refers to offences which, under Islamic law, certain types of punishment are mandated, while qisas translates as “retaliation in kind” -- effectively an eye for an eye. Hudud crimes include adultery -- and falsely accusing someone of it -- drinking alcohol, theft, kidnapping and highway robbery, apostasy, and rebellion.

Naryshkin told reporters, "We discussed a wide range of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Tajikistan and cooperation regarding the situation in Afghanistan and its surroundings."

The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service emphasised that considering the current situation, it is necessary to ensure national and regional security of the two countries.

Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K) has targeted the Russian embassy in Afghanistan and the borders of Tajikistan after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Tajikistan has stressed that terrorists are present on the borders of Afghanistan and threaten the security of the region.

Russia and Tajikistan have agreed to hold a joint military exercise in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation near the Afghan border in 2023 to prevent terrorist threats.

Manawi said on Tuesday, "My mission was successfully completed. Criminals will be brought to justice, the International Criminal Court has committed to it."

He stressed, "Finally, the documents we obtained were handed over to the court and the necessary discussions were held with a high level of decision-making.”

Manawi did not name war crimes of a specific group in Afghanistan but earlier, he had announced his visit to Europe and that he would hold discussions with human rights groups and prominent European figures regarding crimes committed by the Taliban.

He had said that he will present documents of "war crimes, human rights violations, and genocide by the Taliban" in these meetings.

Manawi is one of the members of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.