Afghanistan: proposals for stoning and other Taliban-era punishments must be scrapped

Afghanistan’s proposed reinstatement of atrocious punishments would mark a dangerous return to legalised state brutality, Amnesty International said today as it urged the authorities to reject such plans. 

 

Public stoning to death, amputation of limbs and flogging are among the brutal punishments being put forward as draft amendments to the Afghan Penal Code. Some of these punishments are also proposed for acts which should never be criminalised in the first place, including consensual sexual relations between adults, and choosing one’s religion. 

 

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Justice and the Ministerial Committee of Shari’a and Traditional Penalty and Investigating Crimes recently proposed at least 26 amendments to the country’s Penal Code. The changes include the reinstatement of punishments dating from the Taliban era and reflecting its interpretation of Shari’a law. Among them are public stoning to death for “adultery” by married people, amputation of hands and feet for theft and robbery, and flogging of up to 100 lashes for unmarried people found guilty of “adultery”. 

 

Amnesty is calling on the Afghan parliament to flatly reject the draft amendments, abolish all forms of corporal punishment, and immediately establish a formal moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. It should also ensure that the Penal Code refrains from criminalising behaviour such as consensual sexual relations between adults and choosing one’s own religion. International law prohibits all forms of cruel, inhuman, degrading and torturous punishments.