Afghanistan is planning to reintroduce public stoning as punishment for married adulterers more than a decade after the Taliban was removed from power.
The punishment appears in a draft revision of Afghanistan’s penal code and says those who are unmarried and commit acts of adultery will receive 100 lashes, and if they are married, they should be stoned to death in public, The Telegraph reported.
“Men and women who commit adultery shall be punished based on the circumstances to one of the following punishments: lashing, stoning [to death],” a portion of the text read, The Guardian reported.
Mohammad Ashraf Azimi, who heads the Ministry of Justice’s laws department, said the penal code will be in the works for at least two more years, The Associated Press reported.
Human Rights Watch has called on international donors to boycott Afghanistan if the penal code takes effect.
“It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the [Hamid] Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment,” said Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, according to the Guardian.
“President Karzai needs to demonstrate at least a basic commitment to human rights and reject this proposal out of hand,” he said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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