The Taliban ferociously flogged nine men convicted of robbery and sodomy at a packed football stadium in Kandahar on Tuesday. The men, as per the sharia law, were lashed 35 to 39 times in front of local residents, religious clerics, officials and elders at Ahmad Shahi Stadium.
Shabnam Nasimi, the former policy advisor to minister for Afghan resettlement and minister for refugees in the UK, said the Taliban also cut off the hands of four people at the stadium in Kandahar.
"The Taliban have reportedly cut off the hands of four people in a football stadium in Kandahar today, accused of theft, in front of spectators," she tweeted. "People are being lashed, amputated and executed in Afghanistan without fair trial and due process. This is human rights violation."
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This comes after the Taliban executed a man last month convicted of killing another man. It was the first public execution since the militant political group regained power. The brutal punishments began after Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges on November 13 to uphold the Islamic law.
The OHCHR described this as deeply disturbing. Human rights experts said public floggings and public executions violate universal principles prohibiting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. "The public spectacle of these punishments, make them especially distasteful and undignified."
Human rights advocates called on the de facto authorities to immediately establish a moratorium on the death penalty, prohibit flogging and other physical punishments that constitute torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and guarantee a fair trial and due process in accordance with international standards. "International human rights law prohibits the implementation of such cruel sentences, especially the death penalty, following trials that apparently do not offer the required fair trial guarantees."
