KABUL — The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, on Monday condemned the growing use of public floggings by the Taliban and warned that no refugees should be forcibly returned to Afghanistan under such conditions.
“Last week in Afghanistan, de facto authorities publicly flogged at least 63 males and 4 females,” Bennett wrote in a post on X. “These gross punishments that violate international law have increased massively in 2025 and must stop.”
Calling the acts a stark reminder of the Taliban’s repressive rule, Bennett said the international community must resist normalizing the group. He stressed that the sharp rise in corporal punishments this year makes the forced return of Afghans abroad even more dangerous.
Rights groups have reported a spike in public punishments, including whippings, across several provinces in recent months. The Taliban have defended the practice as part of their enforcement of Islamic law, despite repeated international appeals to end such punishments.
Bennett’s comments come amid ongoing mass deportations of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries, including Pakistan and Iran — a process the U.N. and aid organizations warn could place returnees at serious risk.
