A young couple have reportedly been stoned to death in Afghanistan for eloping.
According to Amnesty International, local sources said the couple had eloped to Pakistan, but returned to their village of Mullah Qulli in Archi district of Kunduz after being told that their families had agreed to marry them.
Instead, they were stoned to death in front of 150 men by a Taliban council in a bazaar.
The woman, Sadiqa (20), was engaged to another man, said Kunduz provincial police chief General Abdul Raza Yaqoubi. He said she and the man, named as Qayum (28), had hidden in a friend’s house.
The Taliban have distanced themselves from the incident. A spokesman said today he was unaware of the incident.
“The Afghan government and the Council of Ulema must condemn the use of stoning following this sickening Taleban execution,” said Amnesty Ireland excecutive director Colm O’Gorman. “Afghan leaders must stand against stoning and other appalling human rights abuses masquerading as ‘justice’, no matter how much pressure they are under to deal with the Taliban.”
The executions in the once-peaceful Kunduz province would be the first of their kind by the Taliban in the area and follow a call last week by Afghan clerics for a return to sharia and capital punishments carried out under the Islamic law.
They also come a week after officials said the Islamist militants publicly flogged and executed a woman accused of adultery in northwestern Badghis province.
Sharia prescribes punishments such as stonings, lashings, amputations and execution. A gathering of clerics, meeting last week to discuss reconciliation with the Taliban, expressed support for such punishments, known as "hodud".
Some Afghans still refer to Taliban courts for settling disputes, viewing government bodies as corrupt or unreliable.
Despite the presence of more than 140,000 foreign troops, backed by 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police, the Taliban have managed to spread beyond their traditional strongholds in the south into formerly peaceful areas like Kunduz.
A spokesman for Nato-led forces today criticised the Taliban for carrying out what he said were acts of indiscriminate violence against ordinary Afghans. "They have increased acts of violence and repression against innocent Afghans," Brigadier General Josef Blotz told reporters."The insurgents have clearly given up winning over the population, knowing that they don't have an appealing vision for the people."
A UN report last week showed civilian casualties had risen by 31 per cent over the first six months of 2010, with 1,271 killed, and that the Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 76 per cent of casualties.