Taliban Flog Man, Woman In Kabul For Alleged Illicit Relationship

The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that a man and a woman were publicly flogged in Kabul on Monday after being convicted of having sexual relations outside of marriage.

According to the court, the pair were each sentenced to 39 lashes and one year and six months in prison by the Taliban’s primary court in Kabul’s Fourth District. The flogging was carried out in the courtyard of the court.

This marked the second flogging reported by the Taliban in a single day. Earlier in Sar-e Pol province, another individual was publicly flogged on charges of “trespassing and causing injury,” according to local officials.

The Taliban regularly issues statements on the implementation of corporal punishments. Last week alone, the group reported that at least 56 men and women had been flogged across Afghanistan for a range of alleged offences.

Over the past four years, international human rights organisations have repeatedly called on the Taliban to end the use of corporal punishment. However, the group continues to defend public floggings and executions as part of its interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.