The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that seven individuals, including two women, were publicly flogged and sentenced to imprisonment in the provinces of Takhar, Kunar, and Jawzjan, on charges such as “unauthorized relationships, running away from home, and sodomy.”
According to separate official statements, one man and one woman in Takhar received 39 lashes each. In Kunar’s Nurgal district, a man was flogged with 39 lashes and sentenced to two months in prison for alleged sodomy. In Jawzjan’s Qush Tepa district, one woman and three men were each given 25 lashes for “illicit relations,” based on a primary court’s verdict.
The identities of the punished individuals have not been disclosed. However, an analysis of recent Taliban court statements reveals that nearly 40 people—many of them women—have been publicly flogged and imprisoned in the past month across several provinces.
These floggings continue despite repeated condemnation by international human rights organizations, who consider public corporal punishment a form of torture and a violation of human dignity. The Taliban, ignoring these calls, insist their actions are carried out in accordance with “Sharia law.”
Earlier this year, UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett warned that the number of public punishments—especially targeting women—has surged significantly in 2025 under Taliban rule.
