Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents publicly flogged and executed a pregnant Afghan woman for alleged adultery, a police official said Monday, in a reminder of the era when the militant Islamist group ruled Afghanistan.
The 35-year-old widow was given dozens of lashes before being shot dead Sunday in remote Qades, a district held by militants in northwestern Badghis province, said Abdul Jabar, a senior provincial officer.
"It happened before the public ... despite that no one has complained, the government will take its own measures about the incident," Jabar told Reuters by telephone from Badghis.
The unidentified man who had the alleged affair with the woman had escaped, he said.
The Taliban staged public stonings or lashings of Afghans found to have had sex outside marriage when in power from 1996 until 2001.
However Qari Mohammad Yousuf, the main Taliban media spokesman, said the group was not behind the Qades execution.
"This is a bad work and we reject it. Whoever has done is not a member of the Taliban and he is trying to defame us," Yousuf said by phone from an undisclosed location.
Another Taliban spokesman earlier said he was not aware of the incident. The Taliban are leading a growing insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign forces.
The Taliban and the Afghan government and foreign forces are engaged in a propaganda battle to win over the hearts and minds of Afghan civilians. Each side often accuses the other of committing atrocities, which are usually denied immediately.
The Taliban recently denied responsibility after Time magazine published a disturbing cover photograph of a young Afghan woman who said her nose was cut off as punishment for fleeing abuse at her husband's house.
If confirmed, Sunday's execution would be the second of a woman by the Taliban since they were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces nine years ago. A woman was previously executed for alleged spying for foreign forces.
One such execution, of a woman wearing an all-encompassing burqa and shot as she knelt in the Olympic Stadium in Kabul, caused outrage when film of the incident leaked out.
The judiciary in neighboring Iran last month suspended a sentence of death by stoning for a woman convicted of adultery after an international outcry over the case.
Source: Reuters, August, 9, 2010
Taliban execute pregnant woman in Afghanistan
HERAT, Afghanistan — The Taliban publicly flogged and then executed a pregnant Afghan widow by firing three shots into her head for alleged adultery, police said on Monday.
Bibi Sanubar, 35, was kept in captivity for three days before she was shot dead in a public trial on Sunday by a local Taliban commander in the Qadis district of the rural western province Badghis.
The Taliban accused Sanubar of having an "illicit affair" that left her pregnant. She was first punished with 200 lashes in public before being shot, deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Mohammad Sayeedi told AFP.
"She was shot in the head in public while she was still pregnant," Sayeedi said.
Sayeedi said a local Taliban commander, Mohammad Yousuf, carried out the execution before the woman's body was dumped in an area under government control.
The execution is a grim reminder of the Taliban's harsh six-year rule, from 1996 to 2001 in Afghanistan. The radical Islamists staged public stonings or lashings of those found to have committed adultery or sex outside marriage.
The then-Taliban government would also chop off the hands and feet of those accused of theft and robbery.
But a Taliban spokesman denied Monday that the militia was responsible for Sanubar's death.
"We have not done anything like that in Badghis or any other province," said Qari Yosuf Ahmadi, calling the report "propaganda" by foreigners and the Western-backed Afghan government.
The Taliban is not a unified national movement and small groups operate shadow government structures autonomously in pockets of the insurgent south.
The man who allegedly had an affair with Sanubar was not punished.
Head of Badghis provincial council Mohammad Nasir Nazaari confirmed the execution and said the Qadis district was entirely under Taliban control.
The deputy head of the religious council for western Afghanistan, Mohammad Kabaabiani, said the execution ran counter to Islamic principles.
Head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in western Afghanistan, Abdul Qadir Rahimi, condemned the killing.
"Any such trial is unacceptable and is a violation of human rights. All trials must take place in an authorised court observing every single measure of justice," said Rahimi.
Since their ouster in 2001, the hardline Taliban militants have executed many people they accused of spying for foreign forces, including at least one woman who was shot dead in Kandahar.
The insurgents last year publicly executed a young couple accused of eloping in Nimroz province, by firing squad in front of a mosque.
Related story: "Zarmina's Story", The Mirror, June 20, 2002. Excerpt: "MILLIONS of people have watched this woman die. Yet none saw her face. Only a handful of people know the real story which led to 35-year-old Zarmina being executed on the penalty spot in Kabul's Olympic Stadium in Afghanistan. The image of this mother of five children being driven to her death in a Toyota pick-up for the crime of killing her husband shocked the world. This anonymous woman being dragged across the pitch in front of 30,000 spectators and being made to kneel before the goalposts until the tall, thin Taliban rifleman blew out her brains. The scene was recorded with a hidden video camera and smuggled into Pakistan by the brave women of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women from Afghanistan." (Source: RAWA.)
Source: AFP, August 9, 2010
Taliban death squad kills a pregnant woman after public flogging
The Taliban executed a pregnant Afghan widow after subjecting her to a public flogging in a remote village in northwest Afghanistan.
Bibi Sanubar was held captive, beaten in front of a crowd before she was shot three times in the head on Sunday by an insurgent commander in the Qadis district of Badghis province, the Afghan police said.
Ghulam Mohammad Sayeedi, deputy provincial police chief, said: "She was shot in the head in public while she was still pregnant."
Mrs Sanubar had been accused of an illicit affair, while the man she had slept with had escaped punishment.
Mr Sayeedi said a local Taliban commander, Mohammad Yousuf, carried out the execution before the woman's body was dumped in an area under government control.
A purported spokesman for the Taliban movement denied any involvement and said the reports were police propaganda.
During the Taliban's six year rule until 2001, women accused of adultery were flogged or stoned, while thieves and murderers lost limbs or were executed in public punishments.
Mohammad Nasir Nazaari, head of Badghis provincial council, confirmed the execution and said the Qadis district was entirely under Taliban control.
Insurgents were also accused of hanging a 7-year-old boy for spying earlier this year and shooting dead a young couple trying to elope last year.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk, August 9, 2010
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