Taliban authorities in southern Afghanistan publicly flogged 27 people, including two women Wednesday, for allegedly committing theft, adultery and other crimes.
Officials and residents reported the punishments were administered in the southern Helmand and Zabul provinces.
Mohammad Qasim Riyaz, a provincial government spokesman in Helmand, said 20 men were lashed in the sports stadium in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
Riyaz said that each man was flogged between 35 to 39 times before a large number of spectators, including provincial Taliban officials, religious clerics and local elders. Some of the convicts were additionally given prison terms, he added.
Separately, the Taliban-run state news agency reported public flogging of five men and two women for “illicit relationships, robbery and other crimes” in Qalat, the capital of Zabul. It did not elaborate.
