Date: 06/12/1403

The Taliban flogged 18 people, including four women, in Khost in the presence of the public.

The Taliban Supreme Court announced on Monday that the group’s Primary Court in Khost Province publicly flogged 18 individuals, including four women, on various charges. According to the Taliban court, the individuals were sentenced to one to seven years of enforceable imprisonment and thirty‑nine (39) lashes. The Taliban court stated that on Sunday, the 5th of Hoot, each of the individuals was punished with 39 lashes on charges of “same‑sex relations and extramarital relations.” In a statement, the Taliban emphasized that officials of the group and residents of Khost Province were present during the corporal punishment.

On Sunday, the Taliban had also reported the implementation of flogging sentences against one individual in Darqad District of Takhar Province, and a woman and a man in Deh‑Yak District of Ghazni Province, on charges of “extramarital relations,” carried out in public.

The United Nations and human rights organizations have repeatedly called for an end to the public and corporal punishment of civilians by the Taliban; however, the group has ignored these calls.

The public flogging of 18 individuals, including four women, in Khost Province reflects the continued and large-scale use of corporal punishment by Taliban authorities as a tool of moral enforcement and public intimidation. The execution of 39 lashes per person, alongside sentences of enforceable imprisonment, carried out in the presence of officials and local residents, underscores the performative and exemplary nature of punishment intended to discipline both those punished and the wider community. Charges related to “same-sex relations” and “extramarital relations” rely on intrusive and highly stigmatized moral offenses that criminalize private conduct and disproportionately expose women and sexual minorities to severe punishment. Implemented through judicial processes lacking independence and meaningful safeguards, these punishments function as arbitrary and coercive practices that normalize physical violence, suppress personal autonomy, and undermine dignity, equality, and non-discrimination.