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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 9 May 2023
U.N. urges Afghanistan’s Taliban to end floggings, executions

RAHIM FAIEZ about judges and their use
Associated Press of Islamic law in a tweet,
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A U.N. the report said.
report on Monday strongly Since that tweet, UNAMA
criticized the Taliban for documented at least 43
carrying out public execu- instances of public lashings
tions, lashings and stonings involving 274 men, 58 wom-
since seizing power in Af- en and two boys.
ghanistan, and called on A majority of punishments
the country’s rulers to halt were related to convictions
such practices. of adultery and “running
In the past six months away from home,” the re-
alone, 274 men, 58 women port said. Other purported
and two boys were publicly offenses included theft, ho-
flogged in Afghanistan, ac- mosexuality, consuming al-
cording to a report by the cohol, fraud and drug traf-
United Nations Assistance ficking.
Mission in Afghanistan, or In a video message, Ab-
UNAMA. dul Malik Haqqani, the Tal-
“Corporal punishment is a iban’s appointed deputy
violation of the Convention chief justice, said last week
against Torture and must that the Taliban’s Supreme
cease,” said Fiona Frazer, Court has issued 175 so-
the agency’s human rights Afghan men, who their fingers have been cut off by Taliban fighters as a punishment for voting, called retribution verdicts
chief. She also called for an rest in a hospital in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, June 15, 2014. since taking power, includ-
immediate moratorium on Associated Press ing 79 floggings and 37
executions. during their previous stint in capital of Kabul as U.S. and victim’s father, took place stonings. Haqqani said the
The Taliban foreign ministry power in the 1990s. NATO forces withdrew after in the western Farah prov- Taliban leadership is com-
said in response that Af- At the same time, they two decades of war. ince before hundreds of mitted to carrying out such
ghanistan’s laws are deter- have gradually tightened The first public flogging fol- spectators and top Tal- sentences.
mined in accordance with restrictions on women, bar- lowing the Taliban takeover iban officials. Zabihullah After their initial overthrow
Islamic rules and guidelines, ring them from public spac- was reported in October Mujahid, the top govern- in the U.S. invasion of 2001,
and that an overwhelming es, such as parks and gyms, 2021 in the northern Kapisa ment spokesman, said the the Taliban continued to
majority of Afghans follow in line with their interpreta- province, the report said. In decision to carry out the carry out corporal punish-
those rules. tion of Islamic law. The re- that case, a woman and punishment was “made ment and executions in
“In the event of a conflict strictions have triggered man convicted of adultery very carefully,” following areas under their control
between international hu- an international uproar, were publicly lashed 100 approval by three of the while waging an insurgen-
man rights law and Islamic increasing the country’s times each in the presence country’s highest courts cy against the U.S.-backed
law, the government is isolation at a time when of religious scholars and lo- and the Taliban supreme former Afghan govern-
obliged to follow the Islam- its economy has collapsed cal Taliban authorities, it leader, Mullah Hibatullah ment, the report said.

ic law,” the ministry said in a and worsening a humani- said. In December 2022, Akhundzada. UNAMA documented at
statement. tarian crisis. Taliban authorities execut- There has been a signifi- least 182 instances when
The Taliban began carrying Monday’s report on cor- ed an Afghan convicted cant increase in the num- the Taliban carried out their
out such punishments short- poral punishment docu- of murder, the first public ber and regularity of judi- own sentences during the
ly after coming to power ments Taliban practices execution since they took cial corporal punishment height of their insurgency
almost two years ago, de- both before and after their power the report said. since November when Mu- between 2010 and August
spite initial promises of a return to power in August The execution, carried out jahid repeated comments 2021, resulting in 213 deaths
more moderate rule than 2021, when they seized the with an assault rifle by the by the supreme leader and 64 injuries. q

Fire deep in gold mine in southern Peru kills 27 workers

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A fire under investigation. Some husband was among the
broke out deep in a gold news reports said prelimi- dead. She said he had told
mine in southern Peru and nary investigations indi- her there were risks at the
killed at least 27 workers cated an explosion might mine.
during an overnight shift, have been set off by a “We are very worried, very
Peruvian authorities report- short circuit in a part of the sad we are, to lose a hus-
ed. mine about 100 meters (330 band, leaving two aban-
The Yanaquihua mining feet) below the surface. doned children,” she said.
company said in a state- Relatives of the victims The Public Ministry of Areq-
ment that 175 workers had were brought by buses to uipa’s Fiscal District said
been safely evacuated the mine in Yanaquihua investigators were working
after the accident, which in the Arequipa region, to clarify what happened.
happened late Friday or where they were briefed by “During the investigation,
early Saturday. It said the security agents. Some sat in the Prosecutor’s Office will
27 dead worked for a con- front of posters at the en- determine the cause of
tractor that specializes in trance to the mine to wait the tragic event and the
mining. for the bodies of their loved responsibilities of those
Relatives of trapped miners wait outside the SERMIGOLD mine Government officials said ones. involved,” its statement
in Arequipa, Peru, Sunday, May 7, 2023.
Associated Press the cause of the fire was Marcelina Aguirre said her said.q