KABUL — Taliban publicly flogged 11 people, including one woman, across three provinces over the weekend, continuing their enforcement of corporal punishment in defiance of international human rights outcry.
According to separate statements issued by the Taliban’s Supreme Court, the individuals were punished for alleged offenses including adultery, sodomy, murder, assault, and theft. The floggings took place in Kabul, Khost and Samangan provinces on Saturday.
In Khost, seven men were lashed between 35 and 39 times and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to ten years, the court said. They were convicted of offenses including sodomy, murder, assault, and robbery.
In Kabul, two men were flogged 20 times and sentenced to one year in prison each after being found guilty of sodomy.
In Samangan province in the north, a man and a woman were each given 39 lashes after being convicted of adultery.
Just a day earlier, on Friday, May 30, Taliban flogged three men and one woman in a public punishment, according to local reports.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have carried out corporal punishments on more than 1,000 people, including over 160 women, according to data compiled by human rights organizations and media outlets.
Despite repeated calls from the United Nations and rights groups to halt the practice—which they describe as a clear violation of international human rights norms—the Taliban have continued to implement such punishments, often in public settings.
Taliban claim the punishments are based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
