Three people, including two women, were flogged in public by the Taliban in Daikundi province in central Afghanistan on Thursday on charges of having an affair, two sources aware of the matter said.
The sources said that the two women were flogged 20 to 25 times while the man was lashed 39 times.
One of the women was also sentenced to five months in prison by the Taliban court in Daikundi.
This was the first time public flogging happened by Taliban’s vice and virtue members in Daikundi province.
Taliban has so far flogged in public at least 250 people, including at least 55 women, in various provinces on charges of different crimes.
The Taliban began public floggings after their leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges in Kandahar last month to implement strict Sharia law including Qisas, Hudd, and public flogging.
The flogging has been carried out in stadiums in the presence of officials and members of the public.
On 7 December 2022, the Taliban publicly executed a man in Farah city, Farah province, in what appears to be the first public execution since seizing power in August 2021.
Senior Taliban officials, including the Taliban’s deputy prime minister and chief justice, were in attendance.
The application of these punishments began after Taliban supreme leader on 13 November ordered the judiciary to implement Hudood (crimes against God) and Qisas (retribution in kind) punishments across the country.
Public floggings and public executions violate universal principles prohibiting torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, UN experts said in December 2022.
They called on Taliban authorities to immediately establish a moratorium on the death penalty, prohibit flogging and other physical punishments that constitute torture, or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and guarantee a fair trial and due process in accordance with international standards.
