Taliban penal code allows husbands to punish wives

The Taliban has published a new penal code enshrining some of its most backward practices into the law of the land in Afghanistan, with women in particular set to suffer at the hands of the courts.

- ARPAN RAI

Signed by the hardline Islamist group's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, the 90-page criminal code includes anachronistic stipulations harking back to Islamic scripture, such as different levels of punishment depending on whether the offender is "free" or "a slave".

It effectively creates a new caste system of upper and lower members of Afghan society, allowing religious leaders or mullahs at the top virtual immunity from criminal prosecution and setting out the harshest punishments for those of the working class.

Perhaps most alarmingly, the code effectively appears to put women on a par with "slaves", with clauses stating that either "slave masters" or husbands can mete out discretionary punishment in the form of beatings to their wives or subordinates.

The Independent has seen a copy of the criminal code, called De Mahakumu Jazaai Osulnama, which has been distributed across courts in Afghanistan.

Many people are afraid to speak out against the code for fear of recriminations from the Taliban, even on condition of anonymity. After ripples of discontent started spreading online and via activists based outside the country, the Taliban has now issued a separate ruling stating that even discussing the new code is itself an offence, rights groups say.

The code states that corporal punishment for serious crimes will be carried out not by the correctional services, but by Islamic clerics.

It encourages less serious misdemeanours to be dealt with through a “ta’zir” (discretionary punishment) - in other words, in cases where the “offender” is a wife, a beating by her husband.