The United Nations has reported in its latest assessment that the Taliban carried out corporal punishment against dozens of citizens across Afghanistan between April 1 and June 30 of this year. According to the report, at least 137 people 112 men and 25 women were publicly flogged during the three-month period.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released its quarterly human rights report on Tuesday, July 28 (6 Asad). The report states that from April 1 to June 30, numerous cases of corporal punishment ordered by Taliban courts were documented, with the number of people subjected to such penalties exceeding 100.
According to UNAMA’s findings, these punishments were, in most cases, carried out in public in the presence of local Taliban officials and members of the community. The report further notes that since April 22, the Taliban have stopped publishing information about the implementation of corporal punishments on their official social media platforms and websites, although the practice itself has continued.
The UN report states that individuals were sentenced to flogging for offenses such as eating during the fasting hours of Ramadan and engaging in extramarital relationships. It also documents that Taliban officials from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice punished citizens for failing to comply with the group’s prescribed dress code, adopting Western-style haircuts, and playing or listening to music.
UNAMA also documented 389 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention and 65 cases of ill-treatment by personnel from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice during the reporting period. The report presents these incidents as part of its broader assessment of the human rights situation in Afghanistan.
According to findings compiled by media organizations, from the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 through the end of March 2026, between 2,737 and 2,757 people were publicly flogged. During the same period, the total number of recorded lashes ranged from 106,743 to 107,523, averaging more than 60 lashes per day.
The findings also show that at least 1,110 people were subjected to corporal punishment in 2025 alone, with a recorded total of 43,290 lashes that year. This figure is nearly double the number documented in 2024. Researchers caution, however, that these figures likely do not capture the full scale of the practice, as victims’ fear, severe restrictions on media, the lack of official transparency, and systemic censorship have prevented many incidents from being documented.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
