The Afghan Taliban will recommence stoning women to death for adultery, it announced on state TV last Saturday.
Comments from the Taliban
Taliban’s Supreme Leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, said in the announcement that while Western nations have been advocating for women’s rights, these values are against the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia.
“You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death. But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery. We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public. These are all against your democracy, but we will continue doing it,” The Telegraph quoted him as saying.
Further, he compared the West with the Devil, saying: “We both say we defend human rights – we do it as God’s representative and you as the Devil’s.”
“I told the Mujahideen that we tell the Westerners that we fought against you for 20 years and we will fight 20 and even more years against you…It did not finish [when you left]. It does not mean we would now just sit and drink tea. We will bring Sharia to this land […] we will now bring Sharia into action,” Akhundzada said.
The extremist leader added that “the Taliban’s work did not end with the takeover of Kabul, it has only just begun.”
Comments from Human Rights Groups
Safia Arefi, a lawyer and head of the Afghan human rights organisation Women’s Window of Hope, said the move was reminiscent of the darkest days of Taliban rule in the 1990s. “With this announcement by the Taliban leader, a new chapter of private punishments has begun and Afghan women are experiencing the depths of loneliness,” Arefi said.
The Taliban's relentless, discriminatory edicts against women & girls are keeping Afghanistan poor & aid-dependent, & forcing Afghan families to leave. There is no substitute for all Afghans participating in the formal education system, which has existed for over 100 years. (2/2)
— U.S. Special Envoy Rina Amiri (@SE_AfghanWGH) March 23, 2024
She further chided the international community’s inaction, stating: “Now, no one is standing beside them to save them from Taliban punishments. The international community has chosen to remain silent in the face of these violations of women’s rights.”
Similarly, Sahar Fetrat, an Afghan researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that the Taliban “tested [their] draconian policies one by one, and have reached this point because there is no one to hold them accountable for the abuses.”
“Through the bodies of Afghan women, the Taliban demand and command moral and societal orders. We should all be warned that if not stopped, more and more will come,” she said.
Women’s Freedoms Under the Taliban Regime
Several rights groups have raised concerns about the deterioration of women’s rights since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021. Last May, Amnesty International released a report detailing the “draconian restrictions” on women’s and girls’ rights, including their imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, and other ill-treatment.
The report also highlighted an incident where a 15-year-old girl was forced to marry a Taliban leader. Another 33-year-old journalist was also made to marry a Taliban commander against her wishes.
In March 2022, the Taliban said that it will not allow girls to attend high school because it goes against Islamic Sharia law. The Taliban has also denied women from working in government offices, banned women from boarding flights without a male guardian, prevented them from visiting parks on the same days as men, and banned them from obtaining driving licenses.
These moves have put the group at odds with the international community, which has been urging the Taliban to take measures to protect minorities, women, and children as a precondition for any recognition of its government and relaxation of sanctions.