Human Rights Group Warns Taliban Court Code Effectively Legalizes Slavery in Afghanistan

A leading Afghan human rights organization has raised alarm over a newly issued “Criminal Code of Taliban Courts,” warning that the document effectively legitimizes slavery and entrenches widespread human rights abuses across Afghanistan.

In a detailed statement, Rawadari, a human rights group monitoring the situation in the country, said the Taliban’s new judicial code is deeply troubling and stands in clear violation of international human rights standards as well as the basic principles of fair trial and human dignity.

According to Rawadari, the code repeatedly uses the term “slave” in several sections, a move the organization says amounts to the formal legitimization of slavery under Taliban rule. The group described this development as one of the most alarming aspects of the new legal framework.

The organization also highlighted provisions that classify Afghan Muslims into categories such as “Sunni and Jamaat” and “innovators.” Rawadari warned that this religious categorization is inherently discriminatory and creates a legal foundation for systematic repression, inequality, and arbitrary punishment, particularly targeting religious minorities.

Rawadari disclosed that the criminal code, which has been signed by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, has already been distributed to provincial judicial institutions for implementation. The document reportedly consists of three chapters, ten sections, and 119 articles, forming the core of the Taliban’s court system.

The human rights group expressed grave concern that the code directly contradicts fundamental international legal norms. According to the statement, it formally envisions discrimination against religious minorities and enables the suppression of core freedoms, including freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and protection of human dignity, while opening the door to arbitrary detention and punishment.

Rawadari further noted that the Taliban’s court code fails to meet even the most basic standards of a fair trial. The organization said the document does not uphold key legal principles such as equality before the law, presumption of innocence, legality of crimes and punishments, personal responsibility, protection from torture, and safeguards against arbitrary detention.

Critically, the code reportedly does not recognize the right to legal representation, the right to remain silent, or the right to compensation for wrongful prosecution. Rawadari said these omissions strip defendants of any meaningful legal protection and leave them vulnerable to abuse.

The group also warned that the absence of clearly defined minimum or maximum punishments, combined with the elimination of an independent investigative process, makes the system particularly dangerous.

Under the code, confessions and testimony are designated as the primary means of establishing guilt, a structure Rawadari says significantly increases the risk of torture, coercion, and severe mistreatment.

Human rights advocates say the code marks another step toward the institutionalization of repression in Afghanistan, reinforcing fears that the Taliban’s legal system is designed less to deliver justice and more to enforce ideological control at the expense of basic human rights.