The Taliban’s supreme leader has said that following sharia law’s sanctions for offences are “obligatory.”
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has instructed Afghan courts to completely enact sharia law and its penalties, which include mutilations, floggings, and executions.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the head of the Taliban’s press office, made the statement on Sunday.
The elusive supreme leader, whose voice hasn’t been heard since the Taliban took control of the country last August, is quoted by Mujahid as saying, “Carefully examine the files of thieves, kidnappers, and seditionists. In those files in which all the Sharia conditions of Hudud and Qisas have been fulfilled, you are obliged to implement them. This is the ruling of Sharia, and my command, which is obligatory.”
In Islamic law, the so-called Hudud offences entail severe, painful punishments including amputation of hands or feet, flogging, and execution, as well as very strong evidence to support a conviction.
Theft, highway robbery, apostasy, adultery and false allegations of the same, defamation, consuming alcohol, and rebellion are included in this category of crimes.
Effectively, qisas is an Islamic version of punitive, “eye for an eye,” justice.
The idea encompasses crimes like intentional harm or murder while enabling victims or their families to receive financial compensation in place of punishment.
The Taliban has been progressively consolidating its hold on power while adjusting Afghani society to conform to the stringent Islamic principles the organisation upholds. The Taliban administration kept its word and outlawed poppy farming in April, which is the source of the sap used to make morphine and heroin. Afghanistan is thought to have supplied 90% of the world’s opium in 2021, with poppy farming being its main industry.
The group issued a warning at the time, saying, “If anyone disobeys the decree, the crop will be destroyed right away, and the violator will be dealt with following Sharia law.”
