Video Depicting Flogging Of 17-Year-Old Girl Shown On Pakistani Television

A video played on Pakistani television and set out over the internet depicts the Pakistani Taliban flogging a 17-year-old girl for having violated Islamic law. In the video, the girl is held facedown by three men as a fourth whips her repeatedly. Several dozen other men watch the beating, their faces masked by several scarves.

As the girl screams for them to stop and forgive her, the man with the whip tells the other three to tighten their grip on her. 

Taliban spokesperson Muslim Khan said the girl had left her home with an unrelated man, and thus had to be punished by being whipped 34 times.

Asma Jehangir of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, however, tells a different story. She says the girl refused to marry a Taliban commander and so other Taliban members decided to enact revenge. She added: “The Taliban should examine their own character before judging the morality of women.”

The video was released to the media by documentary filmmaker Samar Minallah, who said she received the video, shot on a cellphone, from friends. The video had been making the round among people in Pakistan’s Swat Valley over the course of a few days before being sent to the media.

Afrasiab Khattak of the Awami National Party says the video was shot in January and has nothing to do with the peace accord Taliban leaders signed with Pakistan’s government on February 16th, wherein the Taliban pledged peace in return for the imposition of Islamic law in the North West Frontier Province.

Provincial minister Basheer Bilour added that he did not think the flogging captured on the video was “real,” but promised to look into the matter.

Pakistani Media Show Videotaped Flogging of Girl, 17 [Bloomberg]