Taliban Announces Return Of Over 100 Refugee Families To Afghanistan

The court wrote that the defendants were sentenced to 20-39 lashes. They have also been sentenced to one to two years in prison.

On Saturday, December 7, the Taliban's Supreme Court wrote that the defendants were flogged in the presence of representatives of government institutions, court clients, and the general public.

According to the Taliban's Supreme Court newsletters, the group has punished nearly 20 people with public flogging in the past week alone.

Despite the objections of international organisations to corporal punishment and torture of defendants, the Taliban has continued to punish them with flogging. The group considers the flogging of defendants in public to be an order of "Islamic law”.

The country described the Taliban's new decision as a "horrific violation of basic human rights”.

In a statement on Friday, the British government said that Afghanistan is "the only country that imposes such restrictive policies on girls' education".

"The recent decision is a tragic setback," the statement said.

Last week, the Taliban leader issued a decree closing all higher and semi-higher medical education institutions to girls. Mullah Hibatullah's decision has been met with widespread international reactions.

The British government called the Taliban's policies against women "oppressive" and warned of the long-term, threatening and serious consequences of this decision on the health and lives of people, especially women and girls.

The UK called on the Taliban to lift the ban and urged the international community to remain "united in their "resolute opposition to the Taliban's continued restrictions".

The British government stressed that it is "committed to its lobbying efforts in this regard" and called on other countries to make this issue a priority.

"We will continue to engage with the women and girls of Afghanistan, as well as the diaspora in the UK, on this issue," the statement said.

Earlier, a British MP also condemned the Taliban leader's decision, describing it as "immoral" and "short-sighted”.

The company wrote in a statement that according to the contract, Turkmenistan's electricity will be imported to Afghanistan through four routes: Andkhoy, Aqina, Badghis and Torghundi in Herat.

According to the statement published on Friday, December 7, the contract was signed during the visit of DABS chairman Abdul Bari Omar to Turkmenistan.

Afghanistan is not self-sufficient in electricity production and imports more than 70 percent of its electricity needs from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Iran.

A delegation of DABS in a meeting with officials of the Turkmenistan Electric Power Company appreciated the country's cooperation in importing electricity to Afghanistan.

According to sources, the Taliban's intelligence agency has announced that the ban was carried out for security reasons.

According to local sources, Taliban officials in the group's intelligence department have not provided further explanations about the reasons for the ban.

Bilal Sarwari, a journalist, also announced the ban in Kabul's Green Zone on his X social platform account.

In a photo he posted on his social media page, there is a sign in the corridor of one of the inns, "For security reasons, guests cannot spend the night in rented rooms."

Before the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, the Kabul Protected Area, known as the "Green Zone", was home to embassies of foreign countries, including the US embassy, and the offices of international institutions and organisations.

The Presidential Palace, Ministries of Defence, Interior, and Foreign Affairs were also located in this area.

The Taliban's move is another step to exclude women from public and professional life, the organisation said.

The organisation added that the small number of female health workers in Afghanistan has currently affected access to healthcare in the country, especially due to the separation of male and female hospital wards. The Taliban's new ban has further restricted access to quality healthcare.

"There is no health system without educated female medical staff," said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) representative in Afghanistan, Mickael Le Paih, on Friday, December 6.

He added that more than 41 percent of the organisation's medical staff in Afghanistan are women.

Le Paih also stressed that the Taliban's new decision deprives women of access to education and the provision of impartial health services.

The organisation said that the medical needs in Afghanistan are enormous and that more women need to be trained to take care of them.

Restrictions imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan over the past three years have significantly reduced access to medical education for women, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in the statement.

At the maternity centre in Khost province, which is one of the busiest maternity centres in the world, it is challenging to fill essential positions such as nurses and obstetricians and gynecologists, the statement added. The organisation reported that from January to June 2024, it helped 22,300 deliveries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has emphasised that in order to provide essential health services to all people, these services must be provided by all genders.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said it will continue to defend women's right to access medical education and education in general in Afghanistan.

The medical needs in Afghanistan are enormous, and to meet them, more training of women's medical staff is necessary.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international non-profit organisation that provides medical and humanitarian services in crisis areas.