Afghanistan's Taliban has introduced a new 90-page criminal code, signed by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, effectively legalising domestic violence under certain conditions. Husbands may physically punish wives if no "broken bones or open wounds" result, with limited penalties even in visible injury cases. The law abolishes the 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) legislation and introduces class-based punishments, deepening concerns over women's rights.
The Taliban's newly issued Criminal Procedure Code has triggered global outrage after a clause appeared to permit domestic violence if it does not result in "severe injury." Article 32 states that a husband may not face punishment unless broken bones or open wounds are proven — and even then, penalties are limited. Combined with restrictions on women's mobility, education, employment and healthcare since August 2021, the new law deepens concerns over institutionalised discrimination in Afghanistan.
The new penal code sets only 15 days in prison for wife-beating — harsher punishments exist for the mistreatment of animals than for domestic violence against women — and solidifies into law inequality based on gender and social status. The decree, signed by Akhundzada in January, "defines several crimes and punishments that contravene Afghanistan's international legal obligations," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in remarks to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. He urged Afghan authorities to rescind the decree.
"It provides for the use of corporal punishment for numerous offenses, including in the home, legitimizing violence against women and children. And it criminalizes criticism of the de facto leadership and their policies, in violation of freedom of expression and assembly." — Volker Türk, OHCHR
Comprised of 119 articles, the 60-page Decree No. 12 lays out penalties for women who visit relatives without their husband's permission, and allows husbands and heads of households to determine and mete out punishment in their own homes. The decree states that a man who beats his wife severely enough to cause a visible cut, wound or bruise faces 15 days in prison — only if his wife can prove her case to a judge. But a woman who goes to her father's house and stays there without her husband's permission is punished by three months in prison.
The decree "formally removes equality between men and women before the law," UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan Susan Ferguson said. "It places husbands in a position of authority over their wives and limits women's ability to seek protection or justice."
Penalties are harsher for mistreating animals than women. Five months in prison is the punishment for anyone having animals or birds fight. Animal and bird fighting, particularly cockfights and fights between partridges, is a popular pastime in Afghanistan but was banned after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
The new penal code also lays out different treatment for the same crime depending on social class. Scholars and "high-ranking people" face a warning from a judge; tribal leaders and businessmen receive a warning and a court summons; "average people of society" face imprisonment; and "the lower classes" are subject to physical beatings. If an offender is sentenced to a maximum of 39 lashes, they must be administered to "different parts of the body."
The differing treatment does not apply in murder cases, where anyone found guilty faces the death penalty. The other capital offense is insulting the Prophet Muhammad, although in that case the death penalty can be converted to six years' imprisonment if the offender repents.