The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that five people in Kandahar province have been punished with 30 lashes for sexual relations and each has been sentenced to one month of imprisonment.

The court stated that one person in Ghazni was given 39 lashes for theft and sentenced to one year and six months of imprisonment.

On Thursday, the court issued a statement saying that the defendants in Kandahar were punished in public based on the decision of the court in Maiwand district.

Public corporal punishment has faced widespread criticism from human rights organisations.

On Tuesday, the Taliban publicly flogged 21 people in Panjshir, Badghis, and Uruzgan provinces.