The Taliban have publicly flogged five individuals, including one woman, in Ghazni Province following rulings by primary courts in the Jaghori and Ab Band districts, the group’s Supreme Court announced on Sunday.
Each of the accused received thirty-five lashes for offences of alcohol consumption and “illicit relationships”. In addition, all five were sentenced to custodial terms ranging from one to five years. Two defendants were handed prison terms of two years and six months alongside thirty-five lashes; one received five years’ imprisonment and thirty-nine lashes; and the remaining three were each sentenced to one year in prison with thirty-nine lashes.
On 17 April, United Nations experts reported that at least 213 people, including 44 women, had been subjected to flogging over the preceding three months, figures drawn from the Taliban Supreme Court’s own records.
UN human rights officials denounced such punishments as “inhuman” and urged the Taliban to cease practices of public corporal punishment and executions immediately.
