Taliban official: 20 men lashed in public in Afghanistan

Twenty people were lashed in public on Wednesday in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as punishment for alleged adultery, theft, and other crimes, a provincial official said.
Afghanistan’s new authorities have set hardline policies since they took over the country in August 2021 that reflect their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
Mohammad Qasim Riyaz, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the governor’s office in southern Helmand province, said the lashings took place at the sports stadium in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand.
Riyaz said each man was lashed between 35 to 39 times, and the punishments were carried out before provincial Taliban officials, religious clerics, elders and local people.
An unspecified number of those punished also received prison terms according to their crimes., Riyaz said.