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Zan News: The Taliban Supreme Court has announced that in Khost, Ghor, and Balkh provinces, ten people, including two women, have been publicly whipped. Illustration: Zan TV / AI-generated Taliban Whipped Ten People, Including Two Women, in Public in Three Provinces November 28, 2024 Zan News Zan News: The Taliban Supreme Court has announced that in Khost, Ghor, and Balkh provinces, ten people, including two women, have been publicly whipped. The court stated today, Thursday (November 28), in three separate statements that in Khost province, one woman and one man, accused of "moral corruption," were each whipped 39 times. Another statement from the court mentioned that in Ghor province, one woman and one man, convicted on similar charges, were whipped between 25 to 39 times and each sentenced to five months in prison. Additionally, four other men in Ghor, accused of "adultery and sodomy," were whipped between 25 to 39 times and sentenced to four months to two years in prison. It was reported that these punishments were carried out in sports stadiums in Ghor province and in the courtyard of the Khost province court in front of a crowd of people. Meanwhile, another statement from the court indicated that two individuals in the Koh-e-Alborz district of Balkh province, accused of "sodomy," were publicly whipped 35 times each and sentenced to four years in prison. According to the Taliban Supreme Court's statement, these sentences were carried out after being approved by the Supreme Court and in the presence of judicial officials, government employees, Taliban military personnel, and some local people. It is worth noting that according to reports, over the past month, the Taliban has publicly whipped 111 people, including 17 women, in different provinces of the country for various offenses. Since the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, the group has gradually returned to its 1990s policies. One of these policies is the implementation of corporal punishment in public, which is now widely practiced in various parts of Afghanistan. These actions by the Taliban have faced severe reactions from human rights organizations and the international community. Human rights organizations have condemned these punishments as blatant violations of human rights and called for their immediate cessation.

Symbolic image: AI-generated / Zan TV Five years ago, when Shirin was just 15, she was dressed in bridal clothes and a wedding veil. But that day did not mark the beginning of a married life for her. Instead, it marked the start of years of suffering, humiliation and deprivation. She was given in “baad” to the family of a man whose killing her brother had been involved in, even though she herself had played no role in the crime. Shirin is now 20. She says that throughout the past five years, she has lived in a household where she is seen not as a wife, but as compensation for a killing. Members of her husband’s family humiliate her and tell her that she has no value. “I am 20 years old, and I was given in baad because my brother was involved in a killing,” Shirin says. “Now this family tells me, ‘You have no value. You are only a slave.’ I am tortured every day. I have endured this for five years.” Shirin is not alone. In some parts of Afghanistan, girls are still handed over to another family not by their own choice, but to end a feud, settle the blood price for a killing, or preserve what some families consider their “honor.” The practice is known as “baad.” Under this practice, a crime committed by a man can change a girl’s life forever. She may have had no role in the killing or in the dispute between the two families, yet she is made to pay the price through the loss of her freedom, dignity and future. For generations, when fighting or disputes between two families resulted in a death, local elders would often try to end the hostility through a jirga, or traditional council. In some areas, one way of resolving such disputes was to give a daughter or sister from the family of the person who committed the killing to the victim’s family. This practice, known as baad, can also involve underage girls. Shirin says that in her husband’s family, she is seen not as a wife but as someone who must pay for her brother’s crime. “This is a bad practice,” she says. “My brother had the problem, but he is free and living his life. I will remain imprisoned in this house for his crime as long as I am alive.” Shirin was 15 when she entered a marriage she says she knew almost nothing about. She says no wedding ceremony was held for her; a mullah simply performed the marriage. According to Shirin, her husband is around 40 years old and already had another wife and six children. “I did not understand many things,” she says. “There was no wedding celebration for me. The mullah just performed the marriage and left. After that night, they told me I had to go to my husband’s house. My husband is much older than me. He has another wife and six children.” Shirin says she has never felt that she was treated with the dignity or status of a wife in the household. Instead, she says, she has largely been treated like someone guilty of a crime. Baad is not practised across all of Afghanistan, but in some areas, including parts of Helmand and Kandahar, it is still used in some cases to settle family and tribal disputes. In parts of southern and southwestern Afghanistan, many family and tribal disputes are resolved through jirgas. In some cases, women and girls are handed over to the opposing family as part of a settlement or as compensation for a crime. Tribal elders in Helmand say economic hardship, efforts to end long-running feuds and a lack of awareness are among the factors that allow the practice to continue. “Economic problems, ending a feud, and a lack of information and awareness lead some people to give their daughter or sister in baad,” Noorullah, a tribal elder in Helmand, told Zan News. He adds that some families still see baad as a way to preserve family “honor” or end a feud, while women and girls ultimately bear the consequences of those decisions. Zainab, another woman in Kandahar, says she too became a victim of the same practice. According to her, in 2023, a fight broke out between her father and the brother of her current husband. Her father killed the man during the confrontation. A tribal jirga was then held to settle the dispute, and it decided that Zainab would be given to the dead man’s brother. “When my father fought with my husband’s brother, my father stabbed and killed him,” Zainab says. “Because of that, the people and the tribe held a jirga and gave me to the brother of the man who was killed.” She says that after the marriage, she even lost the right to visit her father’s home or see her relatives. “After this marriage, I was no longer allowed to go to my father’s house,” Zainab says. “My husband told me, ‘You have no right to go to your father’s home or visit your other relatives.’” Mental health specialists say forced marriages and living in conditions where a person’s autonomy and dignity are disregarded can have serious psychological consequences for women and girls, with effects that may also extend to their children. Shahla Naimi, a mental health specialist, says women who are forced into marriage against their will can develop serious psychological and emotional problems. “If a woman is married against her will, she can develop mental health problems,” Naimi says. “Many women and girls come for help because this is the source of their problems, and some develop severe psychological conditions.” According to her, the harm is not limited to the woman herself. Children growing up in such families may also be affected by the consequences. “What is even worse is that children born to such parents are affected by the disrespect and devaluation directed at their mother,” Naimi says. “A generation can grow up with serious psychological problems because the structure of the family has broken down.” Although baad continues to be practised in some parts of Afghanistan, there are no precise figures on how many women and girls have been forced into marriage through this practice in recent years. The Taliban, however, say their administration opposes forced marriage and does not allow families to marry off girls against their will. But the accounts of women such as Shirin and Zainab show that for victims of baad, the issue goes beyond forced marriage. They can spend years paying the price for crimes they did not commit. Shirin is now 20 and has spent five years of her life in a household where she says she is held responsible for a crime committed by her brother. For her, and for women like Zainab, baad is not the end of a feud between men. It is the beginning of a punishment that women and girls may live with for years.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons Following the Russian Federation’s decision to recognize the Taliban regime, the “Coordination Association of Afghan Women Activists” has issued a resolution strongly condemning the move and calling it “an explicit collaboration with a misogynistic, ethnocentric, and regressive regime.” In its resolution, the association stressed that Russia’s decision is not merely a political act but “active participation in the systematic suppression of women’s rights in Afghanistan.” The text of the resolution states, “Over the past two decades, the Taliban have deprived thousands of women of education, work, free life, political participation, and even breathing. Secret prisons, public lashings, arrests, and killings of women’s rights activists are only part of the Taliban’s record. With this decision, Russia has consciously aligned itself with such crimes.” The association also stated that Moscow’s action contradicts the principles of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women’s participation in peace and security processes. They emphasized that the Taliban have no popular or electoral legitimacy and “have systematically violated the conventions on the rights of women, children, and minorities.” Another part of the resolution reads, “From now on, Russia is a moral, political, and legal partner of the Taliban. Every act of repression by the Taliban will carry international approval from the Kremlin.” The Coordination Association of Afghan Women Activists emphasized that “history will record this day; the day a global power granted legitimacy to a brutal and backward regime; not for the people of Afghanistan, but for its own geopolitical interests.” This comes as the Taliban announced on Thursday (3 July) that their regime has been officially recognized by Russia. The Russian ambassador in Kabul confirmed the move, stating that the formal proposal was made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia is the first country to officially recognize the Taliban regime after their return to power in Afghanistan. Russian officials have cited “security cooperation with the Taliban” and “the group’s role in countering drug trafficking” as reasons for the decision. This action has been welcomed by China, and regional media outlets such as The Express Tribune have reported that other countries are also assessing the possibility of recognizing the Taliban. In response to this decision, many institutions and activists have expressed strong reactions. Among them, the “Afghanistan Diplomats Solidarity Association” has described Russia’s move as a violation of international law and a threat to peace in the region and the world.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons Women without guardians and breadwinners in the western region of the country, complaining about the prohibition of work for women by the Taliban, say that according to this command from the Taliban's leader, not only have they lost their jobs, but they have also been forced to sell their dignity and honor cheaply. Some women in the western provinces of the country say that on one hand they are facing severe economic problems, and on the other, according to the Taliban leader's command, they are not allowed to work outside the home, which has driven them to beg on the streets and roads. Sufia, a widow who has wrapped herself in a blue burqa, says that the compulsion of fate, along with the Taliban’s prohibition on women’s work, has forced her to extend her begging hand to people on the streets of Herat from dawn till dusk. "My children's stomachs are hungry; I have to beg; my husband had cancer and passed away; I used to work at an institute, but the Taliban said that women, without a mahram, are not allowed to leave the house for work; I became unemployed and sold everything I had—nothing remains for me except begging." Nadia Shahir, another woman without a guardian residing in Farah province, has complained about the prohibition of work for women and says: "I am a widow; my father was elderly and passed away, and my brothers also barely make a living—so how am I supposed to get a mahram for myself? How can I cover the expenses of my six young children? During the republic era, I worked in this very Safa command, but the Taliban kicked me out." Bibi Hoor, another one of these women who begs in the Pul - Pashtun area of Herat province, says that she previously worked as a cook at an institution; however, with the issuance of the Taliban's decree prohibiting women's work, she lost her job. By raising this question, she calls the Taliban's laws un-Islamic and inhumane: "The Taliban have prohibited work for us, so why do they allow begging and consider it permissible? Do I beg inside my own house? If I go out begging, there's no problem, but when I go out for honorable work, it is forbidden for me." On the other hand, women's rights activists are calling on international organizations and the Taliban government to remove the restrictions imposed on women's work and activities. Fazelah Nadim, one of the women's rights activists, says: "It is necessary for the world to focus on the issue of Afghan women, and the Taliban must review their imposed laws, especially regarding human rights and women's rights, because today life has really turned into a cage and prison for women and girls." It should be noted that after seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have banned work, education, for women and girls.