The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that a woman in Daikundi province was sentenced to 39 lashes and one year of imprisonment on charges of “adultery,” with the corporal punishment carried out in public.
On Tuesday, 7 Asad 1404 (August 29, 2025), the court stated in a release that the verdict was issued and executed based on Hanafi jurisprudence and decisions by local courts.
Additionally, in Char Asiab district of Kabul, two men were convicted of “sodomy” and each received 39 lashes, with the punishment administered publicly.
These actions have once again drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations. International bodies have previously condemned such corporal punishments as violations of human dignity and contrary to global human rights commitments.
Human rights activists and legal experts argue that the enforcement of these punishments, in the absence of transparent legal mechanisms, access to legal representation, and fair trial processes, has turned them into tools of social repression. The Taliban, however, claim that these rulings are implemented in accordance with Islamic Sharia and Hanafi jurisprudence.
