DAY 179.2 | Afghans flogged by Taliban in crowded stadium for ‘gay sex’

At least a dozen people have been flogged by the Taliban in Afghanistan this week for committing “moral crimes,” including gay sex. The punished civilians included three women who were also flogged in front of hundreds of onlookers inside a stadium in eastern Afghanistan’s Logar region.

Twelve people, including three women, were lashed in front of thousands of onlookers in the eastern Logar province, a Taliban official has informed the BBC. 

According to the source they were punished for “sins” including “adultery, robbery, and gay sex”.

The people flogged received between 21 and 39 lashes each, with the maximum a person can receive being 39, another Taliban official shared.

It comes a week after the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, announced the group would be “implementing sharia law” in full force across the country.

The islamic law enforces punishments such as public executions, stoning, floggings and the amputation of limbs for thieves.

Under Sharia law same-sex sexual activity is prohibited and can be punished by the death penalty.

The recent floggings resemble the group’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001, when it was condemned for carrying out public executions, stoning and floggings at the national stadium in Kabul.

The flogging in Logar province follows 19 people being flogged in a similar way in the Takhar province in northern Afghanistan just last week.

It also comes after the Taliban promised a “softer” version of its regime, but since the group’s return to rule last year reports of public floggings have been rife.

Since the group’s rule it has continued to destroy women’s freedoms by banning them from entering parks, funfairs, gyms and public baths, with women saying they were beaten for standing up of their rights.

This crowd has gathered in a stadium in Afghanistan’s Logar province, not for a game but to watch public execution by the Taliban. Stadiums previously home to sports events are now used for hanging, shooting, stoning, amputation, and flogging by the Taliban.

A 22-year-old gay man was previously shot dead by the Taliban in Afghanistan because of his sexuality. 

Hamed Sabouri, from Kabul, was killed in August, local activists told PinkNews. 

He was reportedly kidnapped by the Taliban and a video showing his murder sent to his family days later.

Nemat Sadat, an Afghan activist who is fighting to have LGBTQ+ people evacuated from the country, told PinkNews that Sabouri’s death is the result of inaction from western governments, many of which have failed to take in adequate numbers of fleeing Afghans.

Source: pinknews.co.uk, Chantelle Billson, November 27, 2022