The Taliban Supreme Court has announced that four men and three women were publicly flogged in the Gospandi district of Sar-e Pol province and the Behsud district of Maidan Wardak on charges described as illicit relationships.
The individuals received between 25 and 39 lashes and were sentenced to between one and three years in prison.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, 10 December coinciding with International Human Rights Day the Taliban Supreme Court said the primary court in Gospandi district had publicly flogged five people, including two women, on charges of sexual relations outside marriage. They were also sentenced to one to three years’ imprisonment.
In a separate statement, the court reported the public flogging of one woman and one man in Behsud district on charges of illicit relations. They were sentenced to one year and one and a half years in prison respectively.
The public punishments were carried out as the United Nations marked International Human Rights Day under the slogan “Our Basic Needs.” Access to fair trials and respect for human dignity are among the fundamental rights and basic needs of human societies, principles that critics say the Taliban have disregarded during more than four years of rule in Afghanistan.
Data collected by Afghanistan International shows that in the past week alone, the Taliban have flogged at least 94 people across the country on various charges.
The Taliban describe flogging of those convicted in their courts as the implementation of Islamic law. International organisations consider such punishments a violation of human rights standards and have repeatedly called on the Taliban to end corporal punishment and torture.
