Enforcing Sharia Law: Taliban Punishment Methods Vary by the Crime

Taliban has warned that it will reimpose strict Sharia law in Afghanistan after recapturing the power from ousted president Ashraf Ghani, who flew the country days after the Taliban fighters captured major cities and got closer to the capital Kabul.

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In its latest move to show that it really brought back all Sharia law, four bodies were seen dangling from cranes and displayed on a busy public square in the western Afghan city of Herat.

The group’s co-founder Mullah Nooruddin Turabi has earlier reaffirmed in a strict voice the Taliban’s commitment to resuming the implementation of Sharia law across the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Mullah Nooruddin said: “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws based on the Quran.” He further added that "cutting off of hands is very necessary for security." 

Moreover, the group’s co-founder said that the new cabinet, headed by the Supreme Leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, is still studying whether punishments should take place in public or not.

Another scene that was widely shared on social media shows Taliban fighters flogging a man in the middle of Kabul street for stealing a mobile. The group has also banned barbers from cutting people’s hair or beards in Western styles.

Activists and advocates have protested the Taliban’s way of punishment, which is based on the Sharia law and differs per crime; saying the group is violating human rights in Afghanistan as it had vowed to maintain normal life in the country. However, now it is not committed to its promises made when it seized power.

After capturing the country and dominating Kabul International airport, the Taliban pledged in its first press conference to respect women’s rights, forgive those who fought them alongside foreign forces. 

In another form of implementing Sharia law, Taliban has banned mixed gender classrooms at schools and universities. They also informed women that wearing the burqa is now mandatory in all public places in a move that triggered feminists’ anger in the country where hundreds gathered to protest Taliban laws calling for women’s freedom and rights in choosing their dress code, education and work.

About the Taliban group:

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Taliban is a Deobandi Islamist religious and political movement and military organization in Afghanistan. The Taliban emerged in 1994 as one of the prominent factions in the Afghan Civil War and fought during the Soviet–Afghan War. Under the leadership of Mohammed Omar, the movement spread throughout most of Afghanistan.

Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on 15 August 2021 in what is currently known as “the fall of Kabul or Battle of Kabul” during a military offensive against the Afghan government which started in May 2021. 

Afghanistan cities had fallen one by one following the start of the US troops’ withdrawal under a February 2020 US–Taliban agreement that concluded on 30 August 2021.