Fourteen people, including three women and eleven men, who were charged with theft and “moral crimes” were publicly flogged in Logar province of eastern Afghanistan, international media reported citing Logar authorities.
The Taliban Head of Information and Culture for the province of Logar, Qazi Rafiullah Samim, told Agence France Presse (AFP) on November 23 that “14 people were sentenced to corporal punishments, 11 of them were men and three were women.”
The max sentence was 39 lashes, according to Taliban official Samim, who also claimed that this punishment was not carried out in public.
However, according to the Associated Press news agency, which cited a Logar official who wished to remain unnamed, the accused, who ranged in age from 21 to 39, were publicly flogged in front of a large crowd.
The Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, commanded the judges to punish the convicts of Hadd and Qisas and to fully apply the Sharia law, last week.
The provincial authorities in Logar stated that 19 persons had been publicly flogged in Taleqan city, the seat of Takhar province, prior to the implementation of Sharia rules in that province.
Unconfirmed reports of the implementation of Hadd and Qisas punishments on the convicts in Bamyan, Herat, and Kandahar have also surfaced recently.
Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, condemned violence against women in Afghanistan on Monday, November 21, and she warned that the Taliban would soon resume applying harsh punishments.
The return of severe punishment, such as execution and stoning in Afghanistan, will soon be witnessed by the world, according to Metsola, who was addressing the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
The Taliban enforced Sharia law in Afghanistan during the first period of their administration, from 1996 to 2001, which drew strong international disapproval, and condemnation.
