The supreme leader of the Taliban has just called the Afghan judges to order, stressing that it is “compulsory” to fully apply the sanctions provided for by Sharia, raising fears of a new hardening of the regime.
A spokesman for Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, who rules the country by decree from Kandahar City, spoke on Sunday specifically about the need to pay attention to cases of theft, kidnapping and adultery.
According to Agence France-Presse, which reported the intervention, the watchword in fact targets a whole series of crimes considered serious for which severe penalties, including the removal of a hand, flogging or even the stoning, are planned.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, a specialist on Afghanistan attached to the Brookings Institution, notes that the Taliban leader wants to ensure that the “severest possible sentences” are applied without regard to the consequences for the image of the country.
“Hibatullah Akhundzada does not care at all what Western countries think”, notes the analyst, who does not exclude the possible resumption of regular public executions like those which made known the Taliban regime abroad during its first in power from 1996 to 2001.
I don’t know exactly what he has in mind on this plan, but it is clear that he takes a deeply doctrinaire approach.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, Afghanistan specialist at the Brookings Institution
A Kabul-based analyst who asked not to be identified by name said Monday that Hibatullah Akhundzada’s intervention did not necessarily herald an even more repressive turn.
PHOTO ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada
It could be a simple reminder of the regime’s expressed will to impose sharia, he noted, the same that they have been reaffirming for the past three decades.
The previous Taliban regime “was determined to act and do so in a public way” while the application of sharia is generally done more discreetly under the new regime, noted the analyst.
Hibatullah Akhundzada’s judicial warning comes however as his leaders multiply the signs of hardening, notes Mme Felbab-Brown.
Return of repression
After their return to power in the summer of 2021, it was possible to hope, she said, that the Taliban would set up a less repressive government than the previous one, in particular by avoiding concentrating all power in the hands of a single single individual.
The rise to power of Hibatullah Akhundzada marks the definitive end of this scenario and the setting aside of the will of less extremist Taliban who pleaded in particular for greater tolerance with regard to the education of girls.
After assuring that they could continue their secondary studies, the Taliban mentioned in March a “technical issue” to block the resumption of classes and have since been postponing their return to class.
They have also put in place binding rules at the university level, imposing the wearing of the burqa and the separation of genders.
In a report published in July, Amnesty International also noted that severe movement restrictions had been imposed on women, forcing them to stay at home “unless necessary” and to move publicly with chaperones, their faces hidden. .
The human rights organization also pointed out that many of the women who violated these orders were arrested and tortured by the country’s security forces.
Mme Felbab-Brown notes that a new judicial tightening leading to the application of severe sentences risks worsening the already compromised image of the regime and making it more difficult to obtain the humanitarian support required by a significant part of the population.
The United States and Europe, which provide most of the current aid, could be led to restrict it, with “potentially dramatic” consequences for the population.
With winter approaching, many Afghans find themselves in a precarious position, hit hard by food insecurity, said Ms.me Felbab-Brown.
“If aid is cut, the regime will survive and ordinary people will suffer,” she warns.