From May 22 to January 4, 2025, the Taliban flogged 827 people across 25 provinces of the country. Authorities carried out these punishments in public, accusing individuals of offenses such as extramarital sexual relations, theft, buying and selling narcotics, running away from home, and sodomy. Among those punished were 663 men and 164 women. These figures come from statements issued by the Taliban Supreme Court and reports published by the Hasht-e Subh Daily. At the end of 2025, the Taliban also announced that they had flogged 1,118 people over the course of a single year on various charges. These announcements came despite ongoing and serious questions about the Taliban-controlled judicial system. The group has dismantled the Office of the Attorney General, and courts now review cases without defense lawyers or the basic standards of a fair trial. As a result, defendants have no meaningful opportunity to defend themselves or to be heard.
According to the report’s findings, Kabul recorded the highest number of cases, with 225 people flogged. Sar-e Pol Province followed with 67 cases, while Ghazni reported 44. Kapisa and Khost each recorded 38 cases, Balkh reported 34, and Parwan recorded 29.
Other provinces also saw repeated use of flogging. Takhar reported 27 cases, Faryab 24, Uruzgan 22, and Laghman 20. Nangarhar recorded 19 cases, while Kunar and Helmand each reported 17. In Paktia, 15 people were flogged, followed by Zabul with 14 and Baghlan with 13. Ghor recorded 12 cases, Logar 10, and Bamyan 8. Maidan Wardak and Samangan each reported 6 cases, Badakhshan 4, Farah 3, and Daikundi one.
The findings further show that authorities often extracted confessions under pressure and denied defendants access to lawyers and fair judicial procedures. Instead of building a transparent justice system, the Taliban have relied on corporal punishment and public displays of authority. This approach directly contradicts basic human rights principles and leaves deep social and psychological scars on victims and on the society of Afghanistan as a whole.
At the end of 2025, the Taliban issued a statement saying that, based on an order from Akhundzada, they had publicly executed six people in the provinces of Farah, Nimroz, Badghis, and Khost. The group also reported flogging another 1,118 people on various charges in public squares and sports stadiums. Since regaining power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have publicly shot and executed 12 people. Authorities carried out these killings under the label of “execution by firing squad.”
The Daily Mail, a British media outlet, also reported on executions, stonings, and corporal punishments imposed on people accused by the Taliban. The outlet noted that the group has inflicted severe punishments on individuals who may not have committed any crime. According to the report, the Taliban have dismantled liberal values that had developed over more than two decades, particularly those that supported women’s rights, and have imposed harsh penalties on both women and men.
At the same time, United Nations human rights experts issued a joint statement calling on the Taliban to immediately halt all “inhuman” punishments, including public executions and corporal punishment. The experts condemned these acts as clear violations of international law and described them as an “assault on human dignity.” The statement said: “Turning executions into public events is never justifiable, even on religious grounds. This practice normalizes brutality, desensitizes communities to violence, and creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in its quarterly reports on public floggings and corporal punishment, has stated that these practices violate international humanitarian law and has urged the Taliban to end them.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur, also responded to the public executions, describing them as incompatible with human rights standards and calling for an end to the use of the death penalty. He warned that the continuation of this pattern is deeply concerning, especially when courts issue such sentences within a judicial system that he says lacks independence and fails to guarantee fair trials. Bennett stressed that these practices fuel injustice, political repression, and fear, and he called for the immediate halt of extrajudicial tribunals and full respect for human rights and international law.
In its 2025 statements, Amnesty International criticized widespread injustice and the absence of legal frameworks and fair trial standards. The organization called for diplomatic pressure to stop judicial practices in Afghanistan that violate human rights.
Human Rights Watch has also raised an alarm in multiple reports about the human rights situation in Afghanistan. The organization stated that authorities often carry out these punishments without due process and without allowing access to defense lawyers. According to Human Rights Watch, such cruel punishments are prohibited under international law.
At the same time, Morality Police from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, alongside the group’s courts, have publicly humiliated and insulted women and men they considered accused. In some cases, they also flogged them in public. Widespread censorship and repression have kept many of these actions out of the public eye, and the Taliban have released few details themselves.
Legal experts have previously warned that by abolishing the Office of the Attorney General, the Taliban removed a critical pillar of the justice system. They argue that the Attorney General’s Office represents society, defends public rights against crime, and brings cases before the courts. Its removal has turned trials into one-sided processes and weakened any real sense of justice.
After seizing control of the country, the Taliban closed the office of the Afghanistan Independent Bar Association on November 23, 2021. With the association’s closure, female defense lawyers also lost their right to practice.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
افغانستان زیر شلاق طالبان؛ ۸۲۷ انسان در کمتر از ۱۰ ماه در محضر عام شکنجه شدند
