The Taliban’s Supreme Court has announced the public flogging of five individuals, including two women, on charges of “illicit relations” in Jowzjan province and the city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

According to the court, the individuals were sentenced to between 25 and 39 lashes, which were carried out publicly in Qosh Tepa district and Mazar-e-Sharif city. The punishments were administered in the presence of local officials, court staff, security personnel, and members of the public.

The Taliban consider any relationship between unrelated men and women to be a punishable offence. In previous instances, individuals have been flogged for as little as phone contact between men and women.

The public punishments were authorised by the Taliban’s Supreme Court as part of the group’s enforcement of its interpretation of Sharia law. Over the past four years, the Taliban have subjected hundreds of people to corporal punishment, a practice widely condemned by human rights organisations.