The exiled Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and the United Nations are calling on the Taliban to cease the use of corporeal punishment such as stonings and lashings, especially in light of the impromptu or extra-judicial settings where they have occurred.
In a statement on its website the AIHRC condemned the Taliban’s public embrace of a judicial system that engages in brutal corporeal punishment without fair trial, stating that it violated all human values and fair trial norms. Separately, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report highlighting the troubling rise of corporal punishment and death penalty cases in Afghanistan since August 2021.
“Corporal punishment is a violation of the Convention against Torture & must cease. The UN is strongly opposed to the death penalty & encourages the DFA to establish an immediate moratorium on executions” UNAMA tweeted, quoting Chief UNAMA Human Rights Fiona Frazer.
The UN report defines corporal punishment as “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.”
However, the Taliban champions corporal punishment and its judicial practices. The AIHRC paraphrased the recent video announcement of Abdul Malik Haqqani, the deputy of the Taliban’s Supreme Court, that Taliban courts across the country have issued 175 death penalties, 37 stonings, and four sentences to death by being crushed under a wall. The timeline of when these penalties occurred is not clear.
The AIHRC condemned the use of secretive trials as they’re far removed from the most basic principles of a fair trial. It called for specialized legal institutions at the national and international levels to provide a legal interpretation of the decisions of the Taliban courts and the actions of this group, based on national and international law, and take a serious stance on the situation.
“The AIHRC calls on the United Nations and the international community to put pressure on the Taliban to prevent the implementation of this cruel decision and prevent more Afghan citizens from becoming victims,” the statement said.
UNAMA has urged the Taliban to put an immediate halt to brutal punishments and comply with international human rights standards. It pointed to deeply concerning examples where arbitrarily brutal punishment including the death penalty has been applied. This included the Taliban Supreme Court recently ordering the stoning of a woman and a man in Bamyan province after being accused of extramarital relations.
The UN report further noted that women who are publicly punished for zina (adultery) and other moral crimes may be at increased risk of violence from their families and communities after the punishment, due to extreme levels of stigma towards women accused of extramarital relationships. The prosecution of zina also tends to particularly discriminate against women and poses a serious violation of their rights to freedom of movement, privacy, and equality before the law.
Additionally, the UN report highlights the plight of LGBTIQ individuals who are being punished for the offense of homosexuality, stating that they are also likely to be at higher risk of harm if their punishment is known to their families and communities.
The UN report emphasizes that corporal punishment, in addition to being a violation of international human rights law, has the potential to inflict serious physical and mental harm on those subjected to it. While the political situation and humanitarian crisis facing Afghanistan have resulted in a decrease in funding for services providing medical and psychosocial support – meaning that individuals who experience harm as a result of corporal punishment are less likely to be able to access services.
The UN report noted that humanitarian organizations grapple with how to deal with these cases, pointing to the example of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières in the 1990s who were faced with situations in which people who had been punished by amputation were then brought to their facilities for treatment. These organizations feared that their provision of healthcare could in some way be complicit in the practice.
The report also reiterated the United Nations’ strong opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances. “The UN Secretary-General has noted that the imposition of the death penalty is increasingly regarded as being incompatible with the fundamental tenets of human rights, in particular the right to life and prohibition of torture,” it stated.
In light of these disturbing abuses of power, the AIHRC and the UN are urging for more to be done to ensure the protection and well-being of the Afghan people.
