The Taliban said six people were executed during the 2025 calendar year under orders issued by the group’s leader, while at least 1,118 others were publicly flogged by Taliban courts across Afghanistan.
Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, said in a statement posted on X on Thursday that the executions were carried out in the provinces of Farah, Nimruz, Badghis and Khost after court rulings and approval by the Taliban leader. He said the punishments were imposed under the principle of retribution, or qisas.
According to the figures released by Fitrat, Taliban courts flogged 1,118 people over the past year on charges described as “un-Islamic acts”. These included drug trafficking and use, theft, sodomy, adultery, the use of counterfeit currency, illicit relationships and highway robbery.
Fitrat also said Taliban courts reviewed 241,799 criminal and civil cases during the year.
International organisations repeatedly condemned executions and public punishments carried out by the Taliban in 2025, particularly public floggings.
The United Nations has called for an immediate halt to what it described as inhuman punishments, including executions and corporal punishment. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has said public executions violate international human rights standards and has urged an end to the use of the death penalty.
In statements issued throughout 2025, Amnesty International criticised what it described as injustice, the absence of clear legal frameworks and the lack of fair trial guarantees, calling for increased diplomatic pressure to end rights-violating judicial practices in Afghanistan.
In its 2025 reports, Human Rights Watch warned of intensified repression and widespread violations of fundamental rights under Taliban rule, describing the judicial system as a tool of repression.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have executed at least 12 people in the provinces of Farah, Laghman, Ghazni, Jowzjan, Badghis and Nimruz, often in public and in the presence of large crowds.
The most recent execution took place in Khost province in December 2025, according to Taliban officials.
