Puli Alam: The Taliban publicly flogged four men on Saturday for kidnapping a doctor, a local official said.
The men were given dozens of lashes in a
Taliban-controlled area of the Baraki Barak district in the
eastern province of Logar, district governor Mohammad Rahim
Amin said to a news agency.
"We have been informed that the Taliban lashed four
kidnappers before the public in a remote area of the district
where they have control," he said.
Amin confirmed that a doctor working for the district
hospital, who had been kidnapped by unidentified men for
ransom on Friday, was now free.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said to a news agency the militants were behind the flogging.
"We implement Sharia law in areas under our control,
and will punish those who commit crimes, and those who want to
defame us," Mujahid said.
The Taliban have formed shadow governments with their
own police, courts and rule of law in towns across the
country.
The staged public stoning or lashings of Afghans found
to have committed robbery, adultery or kidnapping were common
during the rebels' rule from 1996 to 2001.
The hard-line militants have led a growing insurgency
against the Afghan government and foreign forces since they
were ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001, following
the 9/11 US attacks.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, July 09, 2011, 22:56