A Taliban court in Kabul’s Mir Bacha Kot district publicly flogged 13 individuals on charges related to gambling and the sale and trafficking of narcotic pills, heroin, and hashish, the group’s Supreme Court announced on Thursday.
According to the court’s statement, seven of the accused were also sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. Six of the individuals received between 15 and 30 lashes, while the remaining seven were flogged between 10 and 25 times.
Public floggings have become a routine form of punishment under the Taliban’s justice system, drawing widespread condemnation from human rights organisations.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported in May that at least 180 people had been subjected to public punishment in various cities over a three-month period.
Since that report, dozens more individuals have been sentenced to flogging or imprisonment by Taliban courts on a range of charges.
