‘My command is obligatory’: Afghan supreme leader imposes full sharia law

The supreme leader of Afghanistan has ordered judges to implement the full sharia law, the Taliban’s chief spokesman said. The order came from Haibatullah Akhundzada who met with a group of judges and was announced by Zabihullah Mujahid in a tweet on Sunday. The Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021. Akhundzada, has not been filmed or photographed since and rules from Kandahar.Mujahid quoted Akhundzada as saying: ‘Carefully examine the files of thieves, kidnappers and seditionists. Those files in which all the sharia [Islamic law] conditions of hudud and qisas have been fulfilled, you are obliged to implement. This is the ruling of sharia, and my command, which is obligatory.’Hudud crimes include adultery, as well as false accusations of it, drinking alcohol, kidnapping and highway robbery, apostasy and rebellion.These crimes mandate certain types of punishment however, scholars state that hudud crimes require significant levels of proof to the crime.Qisas refers to a kind of retributive justice and includes crimes such as murder or intentional bodily injury. The new ruling comes days after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution accusing the Taliban of violating the human rights of Afghan women and girls, failing to establish a representative government, and plunging the country into ‘dire economic, humanitarian and social conditions.’The resolution also pointed to persistent violence in the country since the Taliban takeover 15 months ago and the presence of terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State and their affiliates as well as the presence of ‘foreign terrorist fighters.’The order came from Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah AkhundzadaThe adoption came the same day that the Taliban, which already banned girls from middle school and high school, prohibited women from using gyms and parks.