Taliban authorities issued a criminal procedure code in January that defines Muslims exclusively as followers of Hanafi jurisprudence, a formulation that characterises other religious groups, including Shia Muslims, as heretics.
The code is the latest in a sequence of measures giving legal form to restrictions previously enforced through decree and practice.
What does the code do?
Human Rights Watch recorded the code as issued on 4 January 2026, describing it as part of a pattern in which the most recent laws have further codified repression.
Hanafi jurisprudence is one of four schools of Sunni Islamic law and is historically dominant in Afghanistan. Shia Muslims, principally from the Hazara community, constitute a substantial minority and have been targets of sustained violence.
| Measure | Date |
|---|---|
| Propagation of Virtue law | August 2024 |
| Criminal procedure code | 4 January 2026 |
| Decree on separation of spouses | 14 May 2026 |
What is Afghanistan’s new criminal procedure code?
Taliban authorities in Afghanistan issued a criminal procedure code on 4 January 2026 that defines Muslims exclusively as adherents of Hanafi jurisprudence, one of the four schools of Sunni Islamic law. The formulation characterises other religious groups, including Shia Muslims, as heretics. Shia Muslims, drawn principally from the Hazara community, form a significant minority in Afghanistan and have been the target of repeated attacks. The code follows the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice adopted in August 2024, and precedes a decree issued on 14 May 2026 governing the separation of spouses, which the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said contains provisions implying the permissibility of child marriage. Human Rights Watch has described the sequence as the progressive codification of repression through formal law.
What did the May decree contain?
On 14 May the authorities promulgated a decree codifying principles governing the separation of spouses. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in a statement a week later that it contained provisions implying the permissibility of child marriage.
The mission noted that the decree allows a girl’s silence upon reaching puberty to be interpreted as consent to marriage, and said it entrenches systemic discrimination in law and practice.
Why does codification matter?
Restrictions enforced by decree can be reversed by decree. Written into a criminal procedure code, they acquire the machinery of the courts: prosecutors, evidentiary standards and sentencing.
It also alters what reversal would require. A government wishing to restore rights would need to repeal legislation rather than simply cease enforcement, and would have to do so against a body of case law built on the code.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in July 2025 for the Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and the chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, on charges of the crime against humanity of gender persecution. Neither has been arrested.
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Sources for this report
The Redline News Desk
The Redline News desk files and edits world reporting. Every story carries the sources it was built from, and corrections are published on the story itself.
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