The international community continues to ignore the plight of LGBTQ Afghans
Three years have passed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. The Taliban continues to arrest LGBTQ Afghans one after another, and punishes them in public in front of people and local Taliban authorities across the country.
There is no news about their fate. And the severity of repression and increased violence against LGBTQ people by the Taliban has, unfortunately, been away from international attention and their situation is deliberately ignored.
The Supreme Court of the Taliban over the last three years has published several rulings regarding the punishment of LGBTQ people for “lawat,” a reference to sexual relations between two men in Sharia law, and most punishments of LGBTQ people has taken place in public in five provinces: Kabul, Parwan, Sarpul, Zabul, and Kandahar.
A court in the Saidkhel district of Parwan province on July 1 announced it had tried and punished four people for “lawat.” The Supreme Court of the Taliban in a newsletter said the Seyed Kheli district’s primary court sentenced three defendants to a year in prison and 39 lashes.
