Taliban denounce UN official ‘disrespectful’ remarks on Islamic penal code

The Spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid denounced UN officials’ remarks as being “disrespectful” to Islam.

His response on Twitter comes after the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani and delegates from Western nations had referred to the punishment of flogging as an inhumane and cruel conduct.

This comment on the execution of the Islamic penal law, according to Mujahid, is “disrespectful to the Holy Religion of Islam and against the world standards.”

Furthermore, he said that states and organizations shouldn’t permit anyone to speak for them when they make irresponsible and aggressive statements about the “blessed religion of Islam.”

According to Shamdasani, the UN Human Rights Office condemned the de facto authority’s widespread public floggings and demanded an end to this deplorable form of punishment.

The declaration referred to corporal punishment as cruel, noting that it is prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture, both of which Afghanistan is a signatory.

Shamdasani pointed out that multiple instances of such punishment being administered in public, frequently for purported infractions of religious norms, have been documented by the UN Human Rights Office since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021.