Taliban Flogs Dozens Of Men & Women In Sar-e-Pul
The Taliban flogged dozens of people in public on various charges at the central Sar-e-Pul stadium in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday.
The Taliban flogged dozens of people in public on various charges at the central Sar-e-Pul stadium in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Witnesses told Afghanistan International that the Taliban had punished more than 50 people, including men and women.
On Monday, the Taliban governor's press office in Sar-e-Pul called on the people of the province to attend the stadium to watch the punishment of 52 people.
The statement said that the Taliban's court in Sar-e-Pul is punishing 52 people on various charges. The Taliban's Supreme Court has not yet commented on the charges against the men.
Meanwhile, the Taliban's Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it had punished a man for sexual relations in Sayed Khel district of Parwan province. The court wrote that the defendant was punished with 39 lashes and sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment.
As Kazakhstan moves to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups, Rustam Emomali, speaker of Tajikistan's parliament, said that the spread of religious extremism from Afghanistan poses a threat to members of the CSTO.
Religious schools in Afghanistan "train suicide fighters", he said. According to TASS news agency, the Tajik president's son stressed that "more than 1,000 religious schools have been established in Afghanistan, most of them in Afghanistan's border provinces”.
The risk of extremism infiltrating from Afghanistan into CSTO countries has increased more than ever, the speaker of Tajikistan's parliament told a meeting of the heads of parliaments of the Collective Security Organisation (CSTO) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Monday.
Continuing the current situation in Afghanistan will have very devastating consequences for Central Asian countries in the long run, he said.
"The situation in Afghanistan remains complicated and there is no real progress there," said the son of the Tajik president.
"Afghanistan has again become a centre of terrorism. Dozens of extremist and terrorist groups have strengthened their positions on Afghan soil. The cultivation and production of narcotics in Afghanistan is increasing,” he added.
Rustam Emomali said that we cannot ignore potential threats on the southern border of the CSTO from Afghanistan. He called it important to approve the CSTO plan to strengthen the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, which is currently in the signature phase.
The comments come as Kazakhstan, which is Tajikistan’s neighbour, has removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups. Kazakhstan's president said on Monday that the Taliban's removal from the list of terrorist groups is important in expanding business-economic ties with the group.
The Taliban has said that it will not allow any group to attack from Afghan territory. However, Afghanistan's neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, the group's ally, have been skeptical of the Taliban's remarks.
Zhao Xing, China's Ambassador to Afghanistan, announced that he met Tomas Niklasson, the European Union's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, with the third Doha meeting round the corner.
Xing stated that strengthening cooperation with Afghanistan was discussed during this meeting.
“Great pleasure to meet with EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson and exchange views on strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Afghanistan,” wrote the Chinese ambassador on X social media platform.
Niklasson had recently visited Kabul and met the officials of the Taliban and other regional countries.
He has previously discussed the third round of Doha talks on Afghanistan with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's Foreign Minister, and Gholamreza Najari, the Deputy of the Islamic Republic Embassy in Kabul.
The third round of the Doha talks, hosted by the United Nations, is expected to take place in Qatar on June 30 and July 1. Special representatives from regional and international countries are expected to participate in the upcoming meeting.
The Taliban officials did not participate in the second round of this meeting. However, recently, the group's foreign minister emphasised on the importance of "meaningful participation" by the Taliban in this meeting. He stated that they would announce their position regarding attendance or non-attendance at the third Doha meeting.
The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced on Monday that a man in Parwan province was publicly flogged for having a sexual relationship with another man.
The individual received 39 lashes and was sentenced to one and a half years in prison.
The sentence was executed in public following a ruling from the primary court in the Sayed Khel district of Parwan.
In the past week, nearly 20 individuals, including men and women in Parwan, Khost, Ghazni, and Paktika, have been publicly flogged for various charges such as extramarital relations, theft, and drug use.
Human rights organisations have expressed concerns over the lack of fair trial standards in Taliban-controlled prisons and courts. According to a report by the human rights group Rawadari, the Taliban courts are plagued by discriminatory rulings, torture, forced confessions, a lack of independence and impartiality, and violations of the presumption of innocence.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan, announced that the Taliban has been removed from the list of terrorist groups.
This decision of the Central Asian country could influence Vladimir Putin's view on removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups in Russia.
TASS, the Russian state news agency, reported that Tokayev said that Kazakhstan has removed the Taliban from the terrorist list in order to develop economic cooperation with Afghanistan.
During a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) countries, the Kazakh president said that Kazakhstan, considering the importance of expanding trade and economic cooperation with Afghanistan and understanding that the Taliban government will be in power for the "long-term," has removed this group from the list of terrorist organisations.
According to the President of Kazakhstan, one of the strategic tasks at the current stage is the active participation of Afghanistan in inter-regional relations.
Previously, senior Russian officials had also spoken about the possibility of removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist organisations in their country.
Putin, on May 28, considered establishing relations with the Taliban a necessity.
He said that the Taliban controls Afghanistan and its territory.
During a meeting with reporters in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, he said, "We take into account the opinions of each of our partners and friends and will be coordinated on this issue."
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect has released a report highlighting systematic human rights violations in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
The Centre emphasises that normalising relations with the Taliban should be contingent upon adherence to human rights and women's rights in Afghanistan.
The report criticises the Taliban's repressive decrees against women and girls, noting that over fifty decrees have drastically curtailed freedom of thought, expression, and employment opportunities. Additionally, the report underscores the ongoing threat to civilians from other armed extremist groups in the region, referencing UN data that over 3,774 civilians have been killed or injured between August 15, 2021 and May 30, 2023.
It also details the abuse and violence against women and girls, including the Hazara community, following arbitrary detentions by the Taliban.
The report mentions attacks on Shiite sites, highlighting the systematic targeting of ethnic and religious minorities, particularly Shiite Hazaras. This targeting underscores the Taliban's failure or reluctance to protect vulnerable groups.
The Centre expressed concern over the absence of independent national bodies to document human rights violations, following the dismantling of crucial institutions like the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
The report called on the Taliban to fulfil all international human rights obligations and suggested that they undertake serious measures to prevent further human rights violations. Additionally, it stresses on the importance of Taliban cooperation with the UN Special Rapporteur and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.