The Taliban’s Directorate of Information and Culture in Uruzgan has issued a call for residents of the province to gather at the stadium in Tarinkot to witness the public flogging of 15 individuals. According to the announcement, these people are to be punished on Thursday morning for alleged “various criminal offenses.”
The Directorate warned that bringing smartphones or video cameras to the venue is strictly prohibited. The Taliban did not clarify the charges brought against these individuals by their courts.
Earlier, on April 12 (Hamal 24), Taliban courts also reported the public flogging of 13 individuals, including 5 women, in the provinces of Jawzjan and Khost. According to their statement, two women in Darzab district of Jawzjan were flogged for what the Taliban described as extramarital relations and fleeing from home. In Khost, the Taliban’s primary court accused two men and one woman of engaging in extramarital sex, and six men and two women of having “illicit relationships,” all of whom were flogged in public.
Despite international opposition to torture and corporal punishment, the Taliban continue to expand their campaign of public intimidation and floggings. The group’s Supreme Court provides no transparency regarding legal proceedings, the right to defense, or fair trial standards. International organizations have repeatedly expressed concern over the lack of due process and judicial fairness in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.