The supreme leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan has ordered judges to apply all aspects of Islamic law, including public executions, stonings and the amputation of the limbs of thieves, a few days after a series of liberticidal laws for women.
In a tweet posted on Sunday evening, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the “binding” order came from Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada after a meeting with a group of judges.
Akhundzada, who has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, rules the country by decree from Kandahar (south), cradle of the fundamentalist Islamist movement.
“Carefully review the records of thieves, kidnappers and seditious,” the spokesperson wrote, quoting Akhundzada. For “those files in which all the conditions of Sharia […] have been met, you are obliged to apply” all the sanctions provided for, he continued, referring to Islamic law.
The Taliban spokesman was unavailable Monday to provide further details.
The Supreme Leader refers to offenses considered by Islamic law as the most serious and for which different sentences are provided, including corporal punishment.
They include adultery, falsely accusing someone of the latter offence, but also the consumption of alcohol, theft, banditry, apostasy and rebellion.
According to Islamic scholars, conviction for some of these facts requires a very high degree of proof, including, in the case of adultery, the confession or testimony of four adult Muslim men.
Flagellations
Social media has been flooded for more than a year with videos and photos of Taliban fighters inflicting street floggings on people accused of various offences. There are also reports of floggings for adultery in rural areas after Friday prayers, but it is difficult to independently verify this.
Upon their return to power, the Taliban had promised to be more flexible in the application of Sharia, but they largely returned to the ultra-rigorist interpretation of Islam which had marked their first passage to power (1996-2001) .
They then punished in public the perpetrators of theft, kidnapping or adultery, with penalties such as the amputation of a limb or stoning.
“If they really begin to apply” the harshest aspects of Islamic law, it will be to seek “to create the fear that society gradually lost after their return to power”, explains Rahima Popalzai, legal and political analyst in Afghanistan, interviewed by AFP.
According to the analyst, “as a theocratic structure, the Taliban also want to strengthen their religious identity within Muslim countries”.
Over the past 15 months, women in particular have seen hard-won rights evaporate and they are increasingly excluded from public life. Most of them have lost their jobs or are on starvation wages to stay at home.
They are also prohibited from traveling without being accompanied by a male relative and must wear a burqa or hijab when leaving their homes.
Last week, the Taliban also banned them from entering parks, gardens, sports halls and public baths.
The latest attacks in the country could also explain this order of strict application of Sharia, according to Rahima Popalzai.
“With the recent attacks, their claim (to have brought security to the country, editor’s note) has also been called into question, but they want to tell the world: ‘we can keep our promises,'” said Ms. Popalzai.
On September 30 in Kabul, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a training center for students located in the Hazara Shia minority community of Kabul, killing 54 people including 51 girls.
The attack has not been claimed, but six members of the regional branch of the Islamic State jihadist group, EI-K, accused of being involved in it, were recently killed by the Taliban.
A few days later, on October 5, an explosion in a mosque within the interior ministry itself also killed at least four people.