Mick Hartley

From Rawadari, an Afghan human rights organisation – Taliban’s New Law Legalises Slavery In Afghanistan, Makes Mullahs Immune.

At the centre of the controversy is Article 9, which divides Afghan society into four categories: religious scholars (ulama or mullah), the elite (ashraf), the middle class, and the lower class. Under this system, punishment for the same crime is no longer determined primarily by the nature or gravity of the offence but by the social status of the accused.

According to the code, if an Islamic religious scholar commits a crime, the response is limited to advice. If the offender belongs to the elite, the consequence is a summons to court and advice. For those in the so-called middle class, the same offence results in imprisonment. But for individuals from the “lower class”, the punishment escalates to both imprisonment and corporal punishment.…

Beyond social hierarchy, the new Criminal Procedure Code also strips away many of the most basic safeguards of due process. The document does not recognise the right to a defence lawyer, the right to remain silent or the right to compensation for wrongful punishment. It relies heavily on “confession” and “testimony” as the main means of proving guilt, while removing the requirement for independent investigation and failing to set clear minimum and maximum penalties for crimes.

Rights groups warned that this legal framework dramatically increases the risk of torture and forced confessions, particularly in a system where judges and law enforcement operate without oversight or accountability.

The code also significantly expands the use of corporal punishment, including flogging, and introduces vaguely defined offences such as “dancing” or being present in “gatherings of corruption”, giving judges sweeping discretion to detain and punish people for ordinary cultural or social activities.

For many observers, however, the formalisation of class-based justice is the clearest signal yet that the Taliban is not merely imposing harsh laws, but reconstructing the entire legal system around privilege, loyalty and religious status. “By placing clerics and religious elites above the law, the Taliban has effectively announced that some people are untouchable, while others are permanently disposable,” Rawadari said….

As Afghanistan becomes increasingly isolated and its internal repression deepens, critics say the new criminal code sends a stark message – under Taliban rule, justice is no longer blind, it is stratified, selective and firmly aligned with power.