By introducing a new “Penal Code” in Afghanistan, the Taliban have taken another step toward institutionalizing an authoritarian system.
Diplomat magazine reported on Tuesday evening, January 27, in an analytical piece that the Taliban’s penal code is designed not to deliver justice, but to silence the public and justify violence.
According to reports, on January 4, 2026, the Taliban, without any public announcement or consultation process, sent a new penal code, comprising 119 articles across 10 chapters, to Taliban courts in the provinces for implementation.
The Taliban’s penal code was drafted in secrecy, and its details only became public after being leaked by journalists and human rights organizations.
Human rights groups say the code disregards fundamental guarantees of a fair trial and places confessions and testimony, without safeguards against coercion, at the center of criminal proof.
Human rights activists warn that in a country where security forces have been accused of torture and ill-treatment, this approach creates fertile ground for widespread abuse and the systematic repression of dissent.
A member of the human rights organization Rawadari said: “This Taliban code is not about justice; it is a tool that allows the authorities to punish anyone, at any time, without accountability.”
Under the penal code, crimes are defined in vague terms, and concepts such as “corruption,” “sin,” and “immorality” are used without clear standards, granting Taliban judges and officials broad discretion to interpret the law arbitrarily and suppress any form of opposition.
The text of the Taliban’s penal code also introduces a legal distinction between “free” persons and “slaves,” and describes followers of the Hanafi school as “true Muslims,” while adherents of other sects face restrictions and punishments.
The code further grants sweeping authority to the Taliban leader to approve death sentences and criminalizes political opposition under charges such as “rebellion” and “corruption.”
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, has warned that the consequences of this penal code are “deeply alarming.”
