Women accused of adultery are given 39 lashes by the Taliban
THE Taliban have publicly lashed women accused of adultery and trying to flee in the first large-scale use of corporal punishment since the group returned to power.
The public punishments in northeastern Afghanistan mark the beginning of the Taliban’s rollout of Islamic law in the country.
Ten men and nine women were each lashed 39 times on Nov 11 in the city of Taloqan for allegedly committing adultery or theft, Abdul Rahim Rashid, a senior Taliban official, has confirmed.
The incident is reminiscent of the public executions, stonings and floggings the Taliban carried out while they were in power in the 1990s.
Last Thursday, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s leader, ordered the country’s judges to again fully enforce the Islamic law punishments, known as sharia, which loosely follows the
principle of retaliation or an eye for an eye, including the amputation of thieves’ limbs.
The incident in Taloqan, the capital of the northeastern province of Takhar, suggests Taliban officials in Afghanistan have already adhered to this demand.
While officials have not released information about the individuals who were lashed, their alleged crimes were assessed by two courts before the ruling was made in accordance with sharia.
“The Taliban appear determined to alienate the entire world as well as their own people with this return to barbaric practices that have no place in any country whose leaders seek international recognition,” said Dr Patricia Gossman, associate director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.
“That recognition will elude them so long as they engage in blatant cruelty in complete disregard for international human rights law.”
After the Taliban returned to power in August last year, the group initially pledged to be more moderate but its leadership has implemented more conservative policies, including a ban on secondary school education for girls.
There have been sporadic reports of Taliban officials applying their own sharia punishments in recent months but the incident in Taloqan appears to be the first mass punishment, involving the country’s courts.