Woman accused of ‘Immoral relations’ and sentenced to 40 lashes
accused of “immoral relations” because she spoke on the phone with a young man
It only took 80 seconds for two men to rain down 40 lashes on the woman huddled on her knees as a large crowd looked on. The video of the brutal sentence carried out on an Afghan woman was filmed near Herat and posted on Facebook on April 13. It is a painful reminder of the continued operation of Taliban “courts”, even though they have been banned. For our Observer, it also symbolises the failure of the Afghan government.
A man with a white beard leads the woman, who is covered by a burqa, into the centre of a circle formed by local men who are there to witness the punishment being carried out. One of the Taliban “judges” led the victim into the centre of a group of men.
After leading the victim into the centre of the circle of spectators, the man with the white beard joins three other men in the circle. They are the “elders”, the self-proclaimed judges who delivered the woman’s sentence.
The victim is forced to kneel and a man starts to whip her. After a while, another man takes over. In between the victim’s cries of pain, you can hear her saying, “I repent … it’s my fault … I messed up.”
According to our Observers, this young woman was accused of “immoral relations” because she spoke on the phone with a young man. The man was also arrested and is being held in a Taliban prison.
The Taliban court meets three times a week in the district of Obe, on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. They deal with complaints filed by locals. Our Observers say that this system exists nearly everywhere in Afghanistan. Sometimes videos of the punishments inflicted by these courts emerge on social media or local media outlets.
Back in 2015, a video emerged on social media showing a woman referred to only as “Rokshana” being stoned, a punishment handed down to her by a Taliban tribunal. The video got international attention.
Other cases also have been reported in Afghan media. In September 2015, a Taliban tribunal in Sarpol province called for the stoning of a man and woman accused of adultery. Around the same time, another man and woman were shot to death over similar accusations in Ghor. In September 2020, a woman was killed in Sarpol.
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