PAN, February 18, 2013

Taliban flog Ghor couple on adultery charges

Another high peace council member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Taliban ran their own courts in areas under their control

A 30-year-old woman, a relative of a former Taliban governor, was publicly whipped by the rebels for having alleged sexual relations with a man who received 27 lashes before being expelled from western Ghor province, officials said on Monday.

The whipping took place in Gurgin village of Charsada district late on Friday, a provincial high peace council member, Nasrullah, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Sabera, who was flogged in public by the local elders of her village in Joghori district of Ghazni, for having illicit relations with a boy. She was flogged 101 times. (Photo: RFE/RL)

The woman, sister-in-law of ex-Taliban governor Mullah Ahmad Shah, was whipped 40 times on the charge of committing adultery, he said, adding she had been sent into exile for three years and the man for six years.

Nasrullah said the order came from a Taliban-designated district chief, Mullah Abdul Rahman, who is also a member of the movement’s ulema council.

Another high peace council member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Taliban ran their own courts in areas under their control.

Afghanistan Human Rights Commission Director for Ghor Jawad Rezaee remarked a person was presumed innocent until proven guilty. The pair should have been tried under the country's law on the basis of evidence, he suggested.

“No one has the right to order punishment when there is no one to defend the accused. The punishment amounts to depriving the couple of their right to defend themselves,” he added.

Deputy head of the appellant court, Maulvi Hafizullah, said it was the Taliban's way of handing out justice that had no legal basis.

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