Taliban allows men to beat their wives as long as they don’t break bones or leave open wounds

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have issued a draconian decree that makes sodomy punishable by death and allows men to beat their wives so long as they don’t break bones or leave visible, lasting wounds. Human rights campaigners have decried the move as “devastating” and warned that women’s recourse to justice would be further curtailed.

“The men have the right to rule completely the women,” rights activist Mahbouba Seraj told CNN from Kabul. “His word is the word of law – that’s it.”

The decree was issued last month but has only recently come to international attention after it was leaked to the Afghan rights group Rawadari, which published it in the original Pashto. The Afghanistan Analysts Network then translated the document into English.

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