Taliban publicly lashes 11 people including 2 women in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province

Kabul [Afghanistan], February 18 (ANI): The Supreme Court of Taliban has said that 11 people including two women were on Friday publicly lashed at a sports ground in Faizabad in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, Afghanistan-based news agency Khaama Press reported.

Accusing them of “moral crimes and adultery”, 11 people were lashed by the Taliban in front of a huge crowd in northern Badakhshan province in the presence of Taliban authorities, scholars, and local elders, Khaama Press reported, citing an official statement. Prior to this, as per the verdict of the Taliban Supreme Court, 16 people were publicly lashed in the Grishk district of southern Helmand province, according to the Khaama Press.

At least 250 people in different provinces of Afghanistan have been publically lashed by the Taliban on charges of various crimes. The practice of public punishment started by the Taliban in November, after the group’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, asked judges to implement Sharia law in their decisions in courts, including the death penalty, according to Khaama Press.

Over the past months, the Taliban-run administration has lashed scores of people in different provinces including Helmand, Farah, Takhar, Logar, Kabul, Badakhshan, Uruzgan, Jawzjan, Parwan, Paktiya, Paktika, Laghman, and some other provinces. The media recently reported that in another grim reminder of a crackdown on Afghan human rights, the Taliban has lashed three people publicly, for a total of 39 times, exposing that the outfit which rules Afghanistan has no tolerance for premarital relationships.

The incident ensued in Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan and in its defence, Taliban officials said that the lashing was carried out as all three youths were involved in committing adultery. According to the newsletter of the Taliban office in Nangarhar province, these three individuals, who shared a residence, were tried and sentenced after being detained on suspicion of having an illegal sexual relationship.