Twenty-seven people have been lashed in public in the northern Afghan province of Parwan as punishment for alleged adultery, theft, drug offenses, and other crimes, Obaidullah Aminzadeh, the Taliban provincial governor, told RFE/RL.
The public lashings on December 8 were held at a stadium in the provincial capital, Charakar, and were attended by provincial officials and local residents, the local Taliban court said in a statement.
Journalists were not allowed to attend.
Taliban court official Abdul Rahim Rashid said the men and women were convicted by three courts in each case and were each lashed between 25 and 39 times.
Some of those punished also received two-year prison terms, Rashid added.
"There were different cases with different types of punishment, which all were approved by the courts and implemented in a public gathering of locals and officials," Rashid said.
SEE ALSO: Afghans Question Taliban's Authority To Impose Strict Shari'a PunishmentsThe lashings came a day after the Taliban carried out its first public execution since the militants retook power in August last year.
A man convicted of murder was shot dead with an assault rifle by the victim's father in western Farah Province before hundreds of spectators and many top Taliban officials, according to Zabihullah Mujahid, the top Taliban-led government spokesman.
Some officials came from the capital, Kabul.
The executed man had allegedly confessed to stabbing the victim to death and taking his motorcycle and phone during a robbery five years ago.
A separate court statement said that earlier this week, three men convicted of theft were lashed in public in eastern Paktika Province.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced "deep concern" about executions in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
SEE ALSO: Taliban Orders Male Teachers, Students To Sign Pledge To Observe Shari'a Law"Our position has never changed. The United Nations is against the death penalty," spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay said, adding that the UN calls for a return to the moratorium on the death penalty in Afghanistan.
Capital punishment was widely practiced by the previous Taliban regime, which ruled much of the country from 1996 to 2001, when executions and punishments such as stoning were routinely conducted in front of large crowds.
After returning to power in August last year as U.S. and NATO forces pulled out of the country, the Taliban had initially promised to allow for women's and minority rights.
However, the radical Islamist group has further restricted rights and freedoms, including imposing a ban on girl’s education beyond the sixth grade.