Mullahs immune, women silenced, children punished: Why Taliban’s new criminal code is a legal nightmare

Women chat in front of portraits of slain commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Qasem Soleimani (R) and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (L) during a ceremony at Baghdad's International Airport Road on January 2, 2026, to commemorate the sixth anniversary of their killing in a US drone strike. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

The Taliban’s new criminal code in Afghanistan has drawn global condemnation for legalizing abuse, entrenching inequality, permitting slavery, and dismantling protections for women, children, and minorities, with critics warning of severe human rights violations.

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The Taliban’s newly issued criminal code in Afghanistan has sparked widespread outrage among human rights groups, former officials and international observers, with critics warning that it legalises abuse, entrenches inequality and dismantles basic protections for women, children and minorities.

The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 after the collapse of the US-backed Afghan government. Since then, they have steadily replaced Afghanistan’s legal system with rigid interpretations of Islamic law, suspending the 2004 constitution and rolling back protections for women and girls.

Earlier this month, the Taliban introduced a new legal framework that deepens those concerns.

What is the new criminal code?

On January 4, the Taliban issued the “Criminal Procedure Code for Courts” (De Mahakumu Jazaai Osulnama). The document contains three parts, 10 chapters and 119 articles and was approved by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

It is meant to guide how courts operate across Afghanistan but instead introduces a system that openly discriminates between people based on status, gender and belief.

A legal system based on social class

Article 9 divides Afghan society into four groups:

• Mullahs
• Tribal elders
• Middle class
• Lower class

Punishments depend on which group a person belongs to. Mullahs who commit crimes are to be “subjected to advice.” Elites are summoned and advised. Middle-class individuals may be imprisoned. Those in the lower class can be imprisoned and flogged.

Former Afghan Ambassador to Austria Manizha Bakhtari said this creates “unequal legal classes where upper classes escape punishment through advice and warnings, while lower classes face the full force of discretionary punishment.”

Slavery legalised

Article 15 uses the term ‘ghulam’ or slave and applies punishments whether the accused is free or enslaved.

“In the case of any crime for which a ‘hadd’ has not been specified, ta’zir is ruled, whether the criminal is free or a slave.”

Slavery is banned under international law.

Paragraph 5 of Article 4 states that while fixed punishments are carried out by an “Imam”, discretionary punishments may be carried out by a “husband” or “master”.

Violence against children permitted

Article 30 only forbids physical violence that causes broken bones or torn skin. Other forms of physical, psychological or sexual abuse are not explicitly banned.

Article 48 allows a father to punish his 10-year-old son for actions such as neglecting prayers.

Vigilante punishment encouraged

Article 4, Clause 6 gives citizens the right to punish others if they witness a “sin.”

“Any Muslim who sees a person committing a sin has the right to punish them,” the code states.

It also criminalises failure to report opponents of the Taliban.

“Anyone who witnesses or becomes aware of subversive meetings by opponents of the system but fails to inform the relevant authorities is considered a criminal and shall be sentenced to two years in prison.”

Culture and minorities targeted

Article 59 criminalises “dancing” and “watching dance”. Article 13 allows the destruction of “places of immorality”, a term not clearly defined.

The code recognises only followers of the Hanafi school as Muslims and labels others as “heretics” or “innovators”.

Leaving the Hanafi sect carries a two-year prison sentence.

Rights groups condemn the code

The Supreme Council of National Resistance for the Salvation of Afghanistan called the document “far worse than the Middle Ages”.

The Afghanistan Women’s Justice Movement described it as “the legalisation of brutality”.

Former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil said it showed “politicised religion and rigid interpretations offer no future for Afghanistan”.

“It is a document proclaiming the conviction of all citizens,” former Attorney General Mohammad Farid Hamidi wrote on X.

Human rights group Rawadari said the code violates international standards and lacks basic legal safeguards.

UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett called it “deeply troubling” and warned that women now have almost no access to justice.

“Today, there are no women judges or prosecutors and no officially registered female lawyers,” Bennett wrote, adding that violence against women and girls is now largely unreported and unaddressed.