Taliban Flogs Four For Alleged Extramarital Affairs

Taliban judicial authorities have reported that four individuals including two in Parwan province and two in Nangarhar province have been publicly flogged over allegations of extramarital relations.

According to Taliban officials, each of the men and women received 39 lashes in public. In separate statements issued on Tuesday, 29 April, the Taliban’s Supreme Court confirmed the corporal punishment and imprisonment sentences handed down to the accused.

The court stated that a man and a woman in the Sayed Khel district of Parwan were each sentenced to 39 lashes and two years’ imprisonment for what was described as “sexual relations outside of marriage.”

In a separate case, the group reported that local Taliban authorities in Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province administered a similar punishment to another man and woman, also accused of engaging in extramarital relations.

This follows a separate incident on Monday, when the Taliban sentenced a man and a woman in Gosfandi district of Sar-e Pol province to 25 and 29 lashes respectively, along with one to two years’ imprisonment on similar charges.

Despite widespread international condemnation, the Taliban has continued to enforce corporal punishment across Afghanistan since returning to power nearly four years ago. In a recent statement, the group’s Supreme Court also revealed that four individuals were executed in a single day across three different cities.