SW News: The United Nations condemned the Taliban for continuing to carry out public executions, whippings, and stonings ever since seizing power in Afghanistan almost two years ago.

As many as 274 men, 58 women, and two boys were publicly flogged in Afghanistan over the past six months, according to a study by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA. The study reveals the legal system in Afghanistan is currently failing to safeguard minimum fair trial and due process guarantees. Most punishments were in connection with convictions of adultery and running away from home. Other alleged offenses included theft, homosexuality, consuming alcohol, fraud and drug trafficking.

Corporal punishment has been defined as any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.

The report reiterated the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is considered a fundamental principle of international law.

The UN has called on the Taliban to immediately suspend its executions. After seizing control of the nation in 2021, the Taliban started administering harsh punishments. Initially, the terror organization had made a commitment to a more moderate form of government than during its previous tenure in the 1990s.

In accordance with their understanding of Islamic law, the leaders have also increasingly tightened restrictions on women, prohibiting them from public spaces like parks and gyms. The limitations have sparked criticism on a global scale, further isolating the nation as the humanitarian situation and economy deteriorate.

The Taliban continued to carry out killings and corporal punishment in regions under its control after being initially overthrown in the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 while conducting an uprising against the US-backed former Afghan government, the report claimed. The Taliban's prohibition on women working has been criticized as an intolerable infringement of Afghan human rights by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Last month, the Taliban leaders gave the UN notice that Afghan women employed by the UN mission could no longer work. The Taliban formerly forbade women from participating in most aspects of public life and employment, including continuing their education through the sixth grade. In December, the organization issued a restriction on Afghan women working for local and non-governmental organizations; at the time, UN offices were exempt.