Taliban flogs 12 in football stadium for ‘moral crimes’: Report

They were found guilty of crimes punishable under Sharia law, including adultery, robbery, and homosexual sex. After receiving their punishment, the three women were released and permitted to return home, according to Taliban spokesperson Omar Mansoor Mujahid, who spoke to the BBC.

Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges this month to fully enforce aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings, and the amputation of limbs for thieves.

“Carefully examine the files of thieves, kidnappers and seditionists. Those files in which all the sharia conditions of hudud and qisas have been fulfilled, you are obliged to implement,” he said, according to the Taliban’s chief spokesman.

Hudud refers to offences for which corporal punishment is mandated, while qisas translates as “retaliation in kind” — effectively an eye for an eye.

The women and men received between 21 and 39 lashes from the Taliban. Journalist Habib Khan posted an unconfirmed image of the stadium where the flogging took place. It displayed a sizable crowd of hundreds of people, some of whom were standing on the perimeter walls.

“This crowd has gathered in a stadium in Afghanistan’s Logar province, not for a game but to watch public execution by the Taliban. Stadiums previously home to sports events are now used for hanging, shooting, stoning, amputation, and flogging by the Taliban,” Habib Khan tweeted.

This is the Taliban’s second instance of this kind of punishment this month. The Supreme Court of Afghanistan reported earlier that 19 people had received whippings for adultery, theft, and fleeing their homes in northeastern Afghanistan.

(With inputs from agencies)