Taliban “supreme leader” Hibatullah Akhundzada recently approved a novel criminal code, multiple outlets reported this week, that dramatically expands the legal ability for men to physically abuse women and children and provides for the creation of a formal “slave” class in the country.
The Taliban is a radical Islamist terror organization that currently operates as the uncontested government of Afghanistan. The Taliban returned to power on August 15, 2021, following former President Joe Biden’s decision to extend the 20-year-old Afghan War beyond the deadline of May 15 of that year that President Donald Trump had previously agreed to. The Taliban’s return to power prompted a chaotic mass exodus of Afghans fleeing the nation’s persecution and the imposition of restrictive sharia policies that have stripped Afghan women and girls of nearly all their rights as citizens.
According to the Times of India, the latest affront to human rights from the Taliban is the publication of a 90-page criminal code, issued as an edict recently, likely in late January. No evidence suggests any public participation in the drafting of the code or legislative debate by certified lawmakers prior to its imposition.
Citing the British outlet The Independent, the Indian newspaper noted that the code includes the creation of “free” and “slave” categories of Afghanis and different legal punishments for criminals in each category. While it does not explicitly list all women in the country as “slaves,” certain provisions in the criminal code for women appear to treat them as separate from free citizens.
The code reportedly states explicitly that men can beat women and children in their homes, but only if they do not break their bones or cause extreme bodily harm. The code also effectively strips women of the right to accuse men of extreme physical abuse, as it both requires and bans women from showing the parts of their bodies harmed.
“They [women] are required to prove they have suffered serious bodily harm by showing their wounds to the judge, while at the same time being required to remain fully covered,” the Independent explained. “They are also required to be accompanied to the court by their husband or male chaperone (mahram) — even though the majority of offenders in such cases are the husbands themselves.”
The maximum sentence for a man found guilty of extreme physical abuse is 15 days in prison in the new code. For comparison, a woman accused of breaking the law by visiting her family without permission from her husband can be imprisoned for up to three months; no exceptions are made for women fleeing domestic violence.
The Afghan news outlet Tolo News, a flagship news institution in the country that the Taliban almost immediately began harassing after taking over, reported on the adoption of a criminal code in late January. The Tolo News report did not list any provisions in the code about women or domestic violence, instead highlighting its repression of free speech and the imposition of “Hanafi” sharia.
“According to Article 22 of the code, acts such as disrespect toward leaders of the Islamic Emirate, government employees, failure to act against regime opponents,” Tolo listed, “harboring rebels, or abandoning the Hanafi school of thought, will be punishable by ta’zir lashes or imprisonment ranging from 10 days to 10 years.”
The code also empowers the “Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” the Taliban’s thug squads used to repress civilians through violence, with “monitoring social behavior and reporting violations that can form the basis of judicial investigations.”
Human rights activists, long advocating for more international interest in stopping the rampant abuses in Afghanistan, were quick to condemn the latest penal directives from the Taliban.
“This is not just discrimination,” an unnamed human rights activist told the Asian news and commentary outlet The Diplomat. “It is a legal strategy to control society by separating people into groups that can be treated differently.”
The Diplomat noted the sudden announcement of the code without a “public announcement, national debate, or open process,” highlighting the use of “slave” categories for certain Afghans as “especially troubling.”
“Punishments depend on a person’s status, which creates inequality and removes the idea of equal protection,” it explains. “As a result, poor and marginalized people can face harsh penalties, while those with power often avoid serious consequences… Several articles use the word ‘slave’ many times, and the code separates ‘free’ people from ‘slaves’ in legal terms.”
The outlet added that the code also makes “dancing” illegal, as well as watching anyone dance.
Given the opaque nature of the criminal code rollout, little international commentary has arisen in regard to the repressive provisions. The top United Nations official on Afghanistan, Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, issued a statement on social media in January stating that the document was “extremely concerning,” but adding that he was “still analyzing” the situation.
Prior to this new penal code, the Taliban had already endeavored to eliminate women from Afghans society. The Taliban’s “morality police” have for years enforced the use of burkas, which cover a woman’s entire body, and banned women from leaving their homes without a male chaperone. In August 2024, Taliban leaders expanded provisions restricting women’s public access to include a ban on women being heard as well as seen.
“The loud voice of women is also considered a part of their modesty,” the Taliban decreed at the time, according to Tolo News. “The law also states that it is prohibited for drivers to transport adult women without a legal male guardian.”
“It is very bad to see women in some areas, and our scholars also agree that women’s faces should be hidden,” Ministry of Vice and Virtue spokesman Molvi Mohammad Sadiq Akif scolded in 2023. “It’s not that her face will be harmed or damaged. A woman has her own value and that value decreases by men looking at her.”
The Taliban has also outlawed education for girls and women. As of August, the United Nations estimates that 1.4 million girls have been deprived of a secondary education in the country since 2021.
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