Taliban force public to watch them flog 55 people
On Thursday, December 22, the Taliban publicly whipped 25 people in Badakhshan province, 20 in Uruzgan, and 10 in Kunduz province, local sources tell Zan Times.
A resident of Faizabad in Badakhshan says that the Taliban used loudspeakers on patrol cars and at mosques to demand that local residents watch the floggings. Refusing wasn’t an option, the source explains to Zan Times. “If someone didn’t go to the stadium, the Taliban forced them to go,” he says. “They told the shopkeepers to close their shops and go to the sports stadium.”
Another eyewitness says that the Taliban whipped 21 men and 4 women on charges of theft, selling drugs, or forging documents in Faizabad. Each person received between 30 to 39 lashes.
On the same day, the Taliban in Uruzgan province publicly flogged 20 people and then returned them to prison, a local source tells Zan Times. Like all sources in this article, he didn’t want to be identified.
And just like in Faizabad, the Taliban also used loudspeakers of the mosques to direct people to go to the sports stadium to watch the public punishments, an eyewitness tells Zan Times. “The Taliban gave these people 25 to 39 lashes on charges of theft, sodomy, sex outside marriage, and running away from home in the presence of the public, and sentenced some of them to prison terms from 18 months to eight years,” he also explains.
Meanwhile, in Kunduz province, sources say that six men and four women were sentenced to whipping on Thursdays. Their charges ranged from running away from home and having sex outside marriage to theft. Sources explain that the Taliban whipped these people from 30 to 39 times.
The Taliban also continued its practice of forbidding spectators from filming or photographing the public punishment. In recent days, several people have been arrested by the Taliban on suspicion of recording those public floggings.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have dramatically increased the number of people being punished in public. It follows a meeting of Taliban judges, at which Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader, emphasized the need to enforce “hudud and qisas” according to Islamic sharia. In the Taliban’s interpretation, “hudud and qisas” can include lashing, amputating limbs, and stoning to death in front of public crowds.
