Taliban Gives Husbands Legal Right to Beat Wives

The Taliban’s latest penal code in Afghanistan has sparked international outrage by effectively legalising domestic violence and restricting women’s basic freedoms.

According to the 90-page document, husbands are permitted to physically punish their wives and children, provided the abuse does not result in “broken bones or open wounds.” Even in cases of severe physical abuse, the law imposes a maximum prison sentence of just 15 days, and convictions will only be pursued if the wife can successfully prove the abuse in court.

The new code also gives husbands unprecedented control over women’s movements. A married woman can now face up to three months in prison if she visits relatives without her husband’s explicit permission.

Human rights campaigners have criticised the law for treating women as property and stripping away protections introduced under the previous US-backed regime. The 2009 law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW), which aimed to curb domestic abuse, is effectively nullified under the new code.

Exiled Afghan human rights group Rawadari, which obtained a copy of the legislation, warned that the code would legitimise the “abuse, maltreatment, and punishment” of women and children, leaving them vulnerable to continued violence. The group also noted that restrictions on women’s freedom to see their families remove one of the few legal protections available in a country where formal legal remedies are already limited.

Rawadari called for an “immediate halt” to the implementation of the penal code by Taliban courts and urged the international community, including the United Nations, to take all possible measures to prevent it from coming into force.