The UN Office for Human Rights condemned the use of corporal punishment against people detained in Afghanistan and called on the Taliban to “immediately” stop these types of practices, after 63 people were whipped in a stadium from the north of the country for moral crimes or abandonment of home, among other crimes.
These people received between 15 and 39 lashes in public before returning to prison to finish serving his sentences, in the presence of “hundreds” of citizens and representatives of the regime, the spokesman for the aforementioned United Nations office, Jeremy Laurence, explained in a statement.
“Corporal punishment is a clear violation of international human rights law”denounced Laurence, who stressed that “all people have the right to be treated with respect for their inherent human dignity and equality.”
Furthermore, she noted that women reprimanded in public for alleged moral crimes may also be victims of violence from their families and communities.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also condemned this Wednesday the public flogging of more than 60 people, including 14 women, by the Taliban in the northern province of Sari Pul.
The Taliban Supreme Court confirmed in a statement the public flogging of 63 people accused of crimes such as sodomy, theft and immoral relationships.
The Taliban, despite initial promises of a more moderate government, began carrying out harsh public punishments – executions, floggings and stonings – soon after returning to power in 2021. The punishments are similar to those applied under the previous Taliban government , in the late 1990s.
According to separate statements by the Supreme Court, a man and a woman convicted of adultery and attempting to flee their home were flogged on Wednesday in the northern province of Panjsher.
Earlier this year, the Taliban publicly executed a man convicted of murder before thousands of spectators in a stadium in the northern province of Jawzjan. The murdered man’s brother shot the convicted man five times with a rifle. Was the fifth public execution since the Taliban took power in August 2021when US and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.
(With information from EuropaPress and AP)
