Amnesty International called on Taliban to immediately halt hardline practices, like public floggings, as punishments meted out by the group’s court.

It said that these punishments are just another step in the legalisation of inhuman practices by the Taliban’s justice system.

The watchdog group stressed that the group’s hardline practices expose the de-facto authorities’ complete disregard for international human rights law.

Three women and 11 men had been publicly flogged on Wednesday on the orders of a Taliban court on charges of theft and moral crimes in Logar province of Afghanistan.

“The public flogging of women and men is a cruel and shocking return to the 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,” said Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner.

The rights organisation added that the Taliban continue to ignore widespread criticism as they flagrantly flout basic human rights principles.

Amnesty International called on the Taliban to establish a formal justice mechanism with fair trials and access to legal remedies. It also asked the international community to intensify its efforts to ensure the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan abolish all cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments.

On November 14, the Taliban’s supreme leader, had given 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.