The Supreme Leader of the Taliban has vowed to start stoning women to death in public as he announced the fight against Western democracy will continue, further marking the Taliban’s quick return to harsh punishments in public after an American-led withdrawal of Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban's subsequent return to power following the departure.
#Afghanistan | Taliban leader says women will be stoned to death in public https://t.co/nXUkHWeLdA #taliban #deathpenalty #stoningtodeath #adultery #islam #sharia #women pic.twitter.com/rmqIQOMNo0
— Death Penalty News (@WebDPN) March 27, 2024
Speaking through a voice message aired on state television, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, Afghanistan’s Supreme Leader who has been ruling the country since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, addressed Western officials and harshly declared that his government will implement harsh punishments for women, including stoning.
“You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death,” Akhundzada said. “But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery. We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public.”
“These are all against your democracy, but we will continue doing it. We both say we defend human rights – we do it as God’s representative and you as the devil’s,” the reclusive religious leader also added.
When I was young Afghanistan was a vital stop on the overland to India trail, it has been truly tragic to witness its demise as a functioning nation and, of course, it is women who have suffered the most. How many will be executed on the say so of men who no longer want them?
— Annapatten (@annapatten_a) March 25, 2024
The Taliban-controlled state television broadcasts voice messages purported to be from Akhundzada, who has almost no digital footprint and has never been seen in public aside from a few old portraits. He is said to be based in southern Kandahar, the stronghold of the Taliban.
Despite promises of a more moderate rule, the Taliban swiftly went back to harsh punishments such as floggings and public executions, similar to their first stint in power that lasted from 1996 until the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The United Nations has strongly criticized the Taliban and called on their rulers to halt such practices. Akhundzada said in his voice message that the women’s rights that the international community has been fighting for were against the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Sharia law.
It has been one lie after another. “Taliban offers amnesty, promises women’s rights and media freedom.”
https://t.co/G0HaWHjLou— CC Hogan, Author, Narrator, Podcaster (@Its_CCHogan) March 26, 2024
“Do women want the rights that Westerners are talking about? They are against Sharia and clerics’ opinions, the clerics who toppled Western democracy,” Akhundzada said.
“I told the Mujahedin that we tell the Westerners that we fought against you for 20 years, and we will fight 20 and even more years against you,” he also added, emphasizing the need for resilience in opposing women’s rights among Taliban soldiers.
“It did not finish [when you left]. It does not mean we would now just sit and drink tea. We will bring Sharia to this land,” Akhundzada also stated. “It did finish after we took over Kabul. No, we will now bring Sharia into action.”
His comments enraged many Afghans, who also called on the international community to increase the pressure on the Taliban.
“The money that they receive from the international community as humanitarian aid is just feeding them against women,” Tala, a former civil servant, told The Telegraph from the capital Kabul.
“As a woman, I don’t feel safe and secure in Afghanistan. Each morning starts with a barrage of notices and orders imposing restrictions and stringent rules on women, stripping away even the smallest joys and extinguishing hope for a brighter future,” she said.
“We, the women, are living in prison,” Tala also said. “And the Taliban are making it smaller for us every passing day.”
