Taliban Enacts Class‑Based Criminal Code Granting Clerics Near Immunity and Recognizing ‘Slaves’

Overview

• Signed by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada on January 4 and circulated to courts, the code reorganizes justice around social rank rather than the offense.
• Article 9 divides Afghans into four tiers—clerics, elite, middle class and lower class—with clerics receiving only advice for crimes while lower‑class offenders face prison plus corporal punishment.
• The text distinguishes between “free” persons and “slaves,” and allows husbands or masters to carry out discretionary punishments, according to articles cited by Rawadari.
• Rights monitors say the code omits basic safeguards such as the right to a lawyer or to remain silent, relies on confessions and testimony, and broadens corporal punishments with vague offenses like dancing or “gatherings of corruption.”
• Rawadari has urged an immediate suspension and repeal and called for UN and international action, as UN officials recently raised concerns in Kabul and monitoring of implementation continues.