23 January 2025 :

The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced that 10 individuals, including one woman, were publicly whipped in Khost province on January 22, 2025, charged with “adultery,” “sodomy,” “illicit relations,” and “running away from home.”
In a statement, the court said the punishments were carried out based on the verdicts of the primary court in Sabari district, Khost.
The statement added that six of the individuals were each whipped 39 times and sentenced to two years in prison. Three others received between 30 and 39 lashes each and were sentenced to three years in prison. One person was whipped 39 times and sentenced to one year in prison.
This marks the latest in a series of escalating corporal punishments, including public floggings, executions, and stonings.
Since regaining power in August 2021, the Taliban have reinstated strict interpretations of Sharia law, similar to their rule in the late 1990s. Under this regime, six public executions have already been carried out for murder, and hundreds of individuals—particularly women and LGBTQ+ community members—have been subjected to public floggings for what the Taliban label as “moral corruption.”
Reports suggest an uptick in such punishments in recent months, with public floggings becoming a daily occurrence. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 111 cases of corporal punishment between June and September of last year, including 15 women and one girl.
Human rights organizations and the UN have strongly condemned these practices, highlighting the absence of due process in the Taliban’s judicial system. Defendants frequently lack access to legal representation and fair trials.