The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that a woman and a man were publicly flogged in Sar-e Pol province on charges of “illicit relations.”
In a statement issued on Monday (April 7), the court stated that both individuals had been sentenced to three months in prison and ten lashes. After the final confirmation of their sentences, the punishment was carried out in public.
This act comes amid reports that Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, has recently instructed his cabinet members during Eid al-Fitr meetings to intensify the enforcement of “Islamic Hudood punishments,” particularly in public settings. The Taliban claim that these measures are part of their broader campaign to fully implement the laws of “enjoining good and forbidding evil.”
Since returning to power, the Taliban have repeatedly carried out corporal punishments in public, including the execution of at least six individuals before large crowds. International human rights organizations have condemned these actions as violations of human rights and contrary to international law.