Rights Groups Alarmed As Taliban Publicly Flog 11 Across Three Provinces

In the Qala-e-Zal district of Kunduz, two people including a woman were publicly flogged after being convicted of engaging in extramarital sexual relations. Meanwhile, in the capital, Kabul, three individuals were subjected to public floggings after being accused of selling alcoholic beverages and narcotics.

The Taliban’s Supreme Court stated that the individuals in Kunduz were also sentenced to three years in prison. The three individuals in Kabul received prison sentences ranging from one to two years. No further details were provided regarding the identities of the accused or the legal procedures involved in their convictions.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have resumed public punishments, including floggings and executions, under what they claim to be the enforcement of Islamic Sharia law.

These actions have drawn widespread condemnation from international human rights organisations, which have repeatedly criticised the group for violating due process and engaging in cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

Despite global outrage, the Taliban continue to implement harsh punishments, raising serious concerns about the state of human rights and judicial transparency in Afghanistan.

These fifteen advocacy groups expressed deep concern over Pakistan’s ongoing deportation plan, first announced on 3 October 2023, which targets undocumented Afghan nationals. The joint statement highlights the heightened risks faced by Afghan journalists, writers, artists, human rights defenders, and others who fled Taliban persecution and are now at risk of being forcibly returned.

Among the signatories are prominent international organisations such as PEN Germany, CPJ, Unlimited Free Press, Front Line Defenders, International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN), Nai – Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The organisations also called on the international community to provide safe resettlement opportunities for these individuals, recognising the dangers they face if returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s deportation policy has faced sharp criticism from local and international bodies, including the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). These entities have urged Pakistan to uphold its international obligations and provide protection to those fleeing conflict and persecution.

Despite repeated calls for restraint, the Pakistani government has accelerated forced returns in recent months. In April alone, more than 300,000 Afghans were deported, drawing further condemnation from human rights organisations.

The court issued separate statements detailing the punishments. In Sar-e Pol’s Sayyad district, five individuals were flogged for gambling. In Ghazni’s Muqur and Waghaz districts, two others faced lashes for theft and “illicit relationships.” All seven were also sentenced to prison terms ranging from two months to five years.

No details were provided about the identities of those punished or the legal proceedings involved. The Taliban have previously imposed punishments for minor interactions, such as phone contact between men and women.

The floggings were carried out in public, witnessed by local officials, court staff, and residents, according to the court.

In the past week, Taliban courts have publicly flogged at least 33 people across Afghanistan, including five women, as part of their enforcement of strict moral and criminal codes.

The group warned that the situation has worsened under Taliban rule and called for urgent international solidarity to address the crisis.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the group described forced marriage especially among underage girls as a deepening social crisis in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The return of the Taliban to power, it said, has intensified the practice, placing young girls at severe risk of mental, physical, and social harm.

“In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, where a systematic gender apartheid regime governs, young girls, many not even past the threshold of adolescence, are coerced into unequal and forced marriages, often with men significantly older than themselves,” the statement read.

The movement highlighted that these girls are routinely denied access to education, personal development, and childhood experiences. As a result, they face early pregnancies, domestic violence, extreme poverty, and isolation further compounding their vulnerability.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has echoed these concerns, stating that the ongoing closure of schools for girls has contributed directly to a rise in underage marriages. UNICEF has also criticised Taliban policies for exacerbating gender inequality across the country.

The Purple Saturdays Movement cited recent distressing cases that underscore the human cost of the crisis. In one instance, Abida, a young girl from Darzab-e-Nili village in Ghor province’s Taywara district, took her own life to escape a forced marriage to a Taliban member. In another case last year, a girl in Kandahar’s Khakrez district also died by suicide after being forced to marry an elderly man.

While forced marriage has long been a serious issue in Afghanistan, activists say it has sharply escalated since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Key drivers include economic hardship, severe restrictions on women’s education and employment, and fear of Taliban retaliation, which together push families to marry off their daughters in desperation.

The Taliban, however, claim they are addressing the issue. The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated that it had prevented 38 cases of forced marriage during April and May. Despite these claims, rights groups argue that such efforts are insufficient and largely overshadowed by broader structural repression against women and girls.

The Purple Saturdays Movement has called on the international community to increase pressure on the Taliban and to support initiatives that protect Afghan girls from abuse, early marriage, and the denial of fundamental rights.

On Sunday, Qari Sirajuddin, an imam at a mosque in Kabul and a close associate of detained scholar Mawlawi Abdul Qadir Qanit, was arrested in the Qala-e-Fathullah area of the capital. His family confirmed the arrest and said they have no information about his current whereabouts.

The reason for Sirajuddin’s detention remains unclear. However, his arrest comes shortly after that of Qanit, a well-known religious scholar and vocal critic of the Taliban, who was taken into custody last week. Sirajuddin is known to have been a close confidant of Qanit.

Recently, Qari Sirajuddin delivered a statement at a clerics’ conference in Kabul that was openly critical of the Taliban. In it, religious scholars urged the group to form an inclusive government, reject monopolistic governance, and avoid unilateral decision-making.

A number of clerics who had previously supported the Taliban have begun to express concerns about the group’s centralisation of power and perceived tribalism in its leadership structure.

In addition to Sirajuddin and Qanit, the Taliban’s intelligence agency has also detained another religious figure in recent days. Mawlawi Bashir Ahmad Hanafi was arrested in Helmand province. All three clerics are reportedly being held in Taliban-run prisons.

The Taliban have not issued any public statements regarding the arrests.