Afghanistan’s New Tiered Justice System

The Taliban’s new criminal code entrenches a tiered justice system, privileging clerics and elites while harshly punishing the poor.

The Taliban’s new Criminal Procedure Code formalizes a four-tiered justice system that shields clerics and elites while subjecting ordinary Afghans to imprisonment and public flogging. By codifying social hierarchy into law, the regime violates international human rights norms and subverts Islam’s foundational promise of equality before the law, turning justice into an instrument of control rather than accountability.