UN report on public floggings baseless, says Mujahid

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Islamic Emirate on Tuesday rejected as baseless the UN’s concerns about the functioning of courts and enforcement of the Sharia law in Afghanistan.

A day earlier, the UN mission in Afghanistan said 274 men, 58 women and two boys had publicly been lashed over the last six months in the country.

Most of convicts were punished for offences such as extramarital relationships, running away from home, theft, homosexuality, consuming alcohol, fraud and drug trafficking, UNAMA claimed in a report.

It added the UN had documented one instance of judicially sanctioned execution of an alleged killer. He was publicly executed in the presence of senior officials in December.

But IEA spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid spurned the UNAMA report as untrue. He claimed Afghanistan’s judicial system had been strengthened by the interim government.

With justice ensured for all, citizens had been given their rights in light of Islamic rules, he tweeted. “Ignores these developments and achievements is unfair.”

As a result of exemplary justice brought to the people, security across the country had been enforced and a transparent judicial system put in place, the spokesman said.

Responding to the UN claims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the convicts had been punished on the basis of Islamic criminal law.

Such punishments were needed to ensure a safe environment for the people, the ministry argued. “Each political system has its own standards and approaches…”

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