Afghanistan | Taliban Announcement On Capital And Corporal Punishments Raises Concerns

In May 2023, the de facto Deputy Chief Justice of Afghanistan announced that courts across the country had sentenced 175 individuals to Qisas (retribution in kind) punishments and 37 to stoning. Other sentences included physical punishments such as flogging and burying under a wall. The de facto Deputy Chief Justice did not specify a timeline for implementation of these sentences. The announcement was met with international condemnation, including from the United Nations experts who indicated that many of the punishments constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and are contrary to international law. Both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), to which Afghanistan is a State party, prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

The announcement of the inhumane punishments followed the significant deterioration of human rights in Afghanistan as a result of the Taliban taking over power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Subsequent months have seen severe restrictions on the rights of women and girls, religious or belief minorities, and much more. In February 2023, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, indicated that “increasingly, the Taliban is ruling Afghanistan through fear and repressive policies aimed at suppressing communities, and women in particular. Inclusiveness is negligible; there is very little tolerance for difference, and none for dissent.” As he reported, individuals were given between 20 and 100 lashes for alleged crimes, including theft, illegitimate relationships or violating codes of social behaviour. On December 7, 2022, the Taliban publicly executed a man in the city of Farah. It is said to be the first public execution since it seized power in August 2021.

The implementation of inhumane punishments adds yet another layer to the dire human rights situation in the country. Judicially sanctioned and ad-hoc corporal punishments have been implemented in Afghanistan since November 2022, following the Taliban Supreme Leader’s guidance on the issue. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that since then, 274 men, 58 women and two boys have been publicly flogged and one judicially sanctioned execution has been carried out. More such sentences are likely to follow. Furthermore, as explained by U.N. experts, “women are more likely to be sentenced to death by stoning, due to deeply entrenched discrimination and stereotypes against them, including deep-rooted stereotypes held by the exclusively male judiciary – a manifestation of the gender-based persecution that women and girls endure in Afghanistan.” This trend is also visible outside of the cases where the punishment is judicially sanctioned. Indeed, as Richard Bennett warned, “Human rights defenders, who peacefully protest the increased restrictions on women and girls, are at heightened risk and have been increasingly beaten and arrested. The intention is clearly not only to punish them for protesting, but also to deter others from protesting.”

The punishments are ever more concerning because of serious failures of the legal system in Afghanistan, including concerns about the fairness of trials preceding corporal punishment and death sentences. As Richard Bennett identified, “since September 2022, the de facto authorities have sidelined the role and functioning of prosecutors and they had previously removed most judges systematically. Often, the judge is the investigator and adjudicator, which violates compliance with fair trial standards. (...) Alarmingly, there are reports that it is common for alleged perpetrators to be detained, sentenced and punished by the police and other security agencies all on the same day, without any semblance of due process or judicial review. There have also been allegations of bribes.” The U.N. experts called upon the de facto authorities in Afghanistan to immediately establish a moratorium on the death penalty and all forms of corporal punishment.

Source: forbes.com, Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, May 14, 2023

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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