Video of Taliban militants flogging a young woman who was accused of having a pre-marital sexual encounter became public this past weekend and Pakistan’s Supreme Court announced an investigation yesterday. According to The Guardian, the flogging took place in the Swat Valley, but the Taliban and some government officials are claiming that the tape is fake. Media reports indicate that the incident occurred between two and six weeks ago.
The video shows a veiled 17-year-old woman forcibly held down and whipped 34 times. Taliban militants accused an electrician of having a sexual relationship with the woman and flogged him prior to flogging the woman, according to the BBC. The Taliban also reportedly forced the couple to marry.
The Pakistan Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry wrote in his order that “The matter requires a detailed probe to locate place of incident, application of law for those involved and if sentence of flogging was awarded lawfully or unlawfully [the] possibility cannot be ruled out that a fake TV material or a video had been prepared with an ulterior motive to malign people of Swat .If there is any unlawful order, or provisions of constitution dealing with dignity of human beings are violated, action is required to be taken” , according to The Straits Times
