Afghan authorities executed five men who were convicted of armed robbery and gang rape, the Kabul police chief said, following a case that galvanized the nation in recent weeks.
Gen. Mohammad Zahir Zahir says the men were hanged on Wednesday in the Puli Charkhi prison in the Afghan capital. Then-President Hamid Karzai had approved and signed the execution order last month on his last day in office, a rare such authorization in his more than decade-long tenure.
In August, eight men, some dressed in stolen police uniforms, stopped an Afghan family’s car. They were on their way home from a wedding in the Paghman district of Kabul province. Four women were dragged out of the vehicle into an area where their male family members could hear the women screaming. The victims — including an 18-year-old and a pregnant woman — were robbed, beaten and raped before they were returned to their family members.
Seven men were initially sentenced to death in a trial last month, but an appeals court later reduced two of the sentences to up to 20 years in prison – verdicts upheld by the country’s Supreme Court. Three of the suspects remain at large.
The case prompted street demonstrations in support of the victims. While allowed under Afghan law, the death penalty was applied only on two occasions during Karzai’s 13-year presidency. He did not authorize the death penalty in hundreds of cases when it was sought during his tenure.
0 comments:
Post a Comment