Taliban court lashes 14 in latest shift to corporal punishments

KABUL, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Fourteen people were lashed in
a football stadium in eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban-led
Supreme Court said on Wednesday, in the latest sign of the
ruling group applying its strict interpretation of sharia
(Islamic law) to criminal justice.
It was the second confirmation of lashings by the Taliban
this month, signalling a possible return to practices common in
its hardline rule in the 1990s.

“Fourteen people, including three women were lashed in the
presence of scholars, authorities and people … for different
sins including adultery, robbery and other forms of corruption
in a football stadium in Logar (province),” the Supreme Court
said on Twitter, adding two other people had also been lashed in
eastern Laghman province.

The Taliban’s supreme spiritual leader met judges this month
and said they should carry out punishments consistent with
sharia law, according to a court statement.

Other countries have been scrutinising the Taliban’s track
record on human rights and women’s rights since they took over
in August 2021 after a two-decade insurgency.

No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban’s
administration and many have already heavily criticised its
reversal on signals they would open secondary schools nationwide
for girls in March.

Public lashings and executions by stoning took place under
the previous 1996-2001 rule of the Taliban.

Such punishments later became rare and were condemned by the
foreign-backed Afghan governments that followed, though the
death penalty remained legal in Afghanistan.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte
Greenfield; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)