Flogging and 20-Year Imprisonment for Extramarital Relationship in Ghazni by the Taliban

On Wednesday, the Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that an individual accused of engaging in extramarital sex was flogged in public in the Dih Yak district of Ghazni Province. According to the court’s statement, the individual was also sentenced to 20 years of enforced imprisonment. The Taliban reported that this punishment was carried out based on the initial ruling of the Taliban’s primary court in Dih Yak district and was confirmed by the group’s Supreme Court. The statement did not specify the gender of the accused but noted that the individual received 39 lashes. Despite international condemnation of corporal punishment, the Taliban continues to enforce such rulings. Human rights organizations emphasize that defendants in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan are deprived of access to fair judicial processes and standard legal mechanisms.