The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced on Tuesday, May 13, that a man in Badakhshan province was publicly flogged on charges of “sodomy.”
According to the statement, the Primary Court of Yaftal district sentenced the accused to 39 lashes as a form of criminal punishment. The sentence was carried out after receiving approval from the Taliban’s Supreme Court, and in the presence of local officials, religious scholars, and residents of the area.
The Supreme Court emphasized that such public corporal punishments are implemented to “reform society” and to serve as a “lesson for others.”
Under the Taliban’s extrajudicial justice system, public flogging is a routine and institutionalized practice. However, according to international law and United Nations experts, such punishments represent a clear form of violence.
UN officials have repeatedly called on the Taliban to put an end to corporal punishments, warning that these practices instill fear and normalize intimidation across Afghan society.
