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Pregnant woman is flogged and shot dead by Taliban
Execution and Karen Woo’s murder beg the question - what will happen when Nato leaves Afghanistan ?
Deep anxieties over what will happen when Nato forces eventually leave the Afghans to their own devices have been raised by the slaughter of a group of aid workers, including the British medic Dr Karen Woo, and now by the news of the flogging and execution by the Taliban of a pregnant woman.
Police in the remote northwest province of Badghis confirmed to the AFP news agency yesterday that the 35-year-old woman, Bibi Sanubar, died after being shot three times in the head by a Taliban commander in the district of Qadis - an area entirely under Taliban control.
Sanubar was a widow and is said to have been reported to the Taliban by local elders, who discovered she had had an "illicit affair" which had left her pregnant. Although it was many years since her husband died, under the strictest interpretation of Sharia law, having sex with another man counts as adultery.
She was held captive for three days and then given 200 lashes in public before being shot. The man with whom Sanubar allegedly had the affair was not punished.
Mullah Daoud, a senior Taliban commander, told the Times that he was one of three who sat in judgment of Sanubar.
"There were three mullahs that passed this verdict. I was one of them," he said. "We gave this decision so that in future no one should have these illegal affairs. We whipped her in front of all the local people, to show them an example. Then we shot her."
The deputy police chief in Badghis, Ghulam Mohammad Sayeedi, confirmed the shooting to AFP. He said Sunabar's body was dumped afterwards in an area under Afghan government - not Taliban - control.
The execution serves as a brutal reminder of what the Taliban are capable of. During the six years they ruled Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001, public stonings and lashings were common punishment for women accused of adultery, while thieves would have their hands and feet chopped off.
But what is disturbing to human rights watchers today is that, while the punishment would not have been so severe, it is very likely Bibi Sunabar would still have been found guilty of adultery under Afghan state law, if the Taliban had not stepped in first.
While the head of security in Badghis province, General Abdul Jabar, condemned the flogging and execution of Sunabar, he made it very clear that what she was accused of was a crime in his view.
"This was not the way she should have been punished," the general said. "She should have been arrested and we should have had proof that she'd had an illegal affair. Then she should come to court and face justice. This kind of punishment was very severe."
Under Afghan state law, it is common for victims of rape to be jailed for having sex outside marriage. And while some adulterers are jailed, others are sent home so that their families can punish them appropriately. At which point they can be ostracised - or dealt with in an 'honour killing'. ·
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I think if all the people in Afghanistan were armed, the problem with the Taliban would take care of it's self.
Mr Brown, I am unable to accept your wide eyed veneration of Winston Churchill, who was nothing more than a war mongerer who led Britain into another disasterous war, only twenty years after the slaughter of the First one. A war that left the European continent all but destroyed with millions of lives destroyed and a Europe forever broken as a major player in world affairs. Churchill knew that Britain would face inevitable defeat unless he could drag, trick or cajole the United States into the war against Germany. The United States since the end of the Second war is the "problem" in the world, it is the cause of all the wars that have been started since then. The US government no longer commands respect because of the policies and its brutal and inhuman methods it employs some of which I have outlined above; and is no better than any other terrorist state or organisation and is certainly no less corrupt than Karzai regime.
You are quite right Tom - I should have said "Until all religions...." - I believe in the big guy upstairs as much as you do, but having said that, I have no issue with anyone who does - their choice. And this is where you might be missing my point. Progressive and forward-thinking, 21st century western democracies and this vile, stone age cult simply do not mix. The western military should leave as soon possible and these countries can sort out their own affairs (and it'll be messy after they go!!). But we should have zero to do with them, and ban Islam in our democracies, until they show some sign of basic human rights and allow other faiths to practice without being executed.
Oh, and Deloki, I take it you would prefer to live in a constant state of fear in a Taleban-led society than a western democracy, would you? The United States is not perfect - far from it - but perhaps you should read what one of Britain's greatest-ever leaders, Winston Churchill, said about the USA.
I concur with the comments of mdumasia: The Taliban have their own 'interpretation' of The Quran and Sharia Law, and for the most part, their treatment of the female sex and children is so far off mark in contradiction of Islam, it sickens me. The lack of education for many of the males in Afghanistan leaves the door open for corrupt Mullah War Lords to dictate and distort Islam for their own ends. Women are given distinguishable rights in Islam; this is being denied them by keeping them in ignorance. These vile human beings are not true Muslims by a long shot!
Have we forgotten what those savage American peasants did at Mai Lai or the inhuman medieval torture of prisoners in Abu Graib, Guantanamo or the other camps in Lithuania, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and elswhere. This evil alliance that the USA keeps stringing together is responsible for Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Agent orange, three million dead in Vietnam, a million dead in Iraq. Who dares call these animals the "leader" of the western world. Never mind whether it is men or women, look at the uncontrolled savagery of the Nato/ US killing machine. NATO and the USA must be brought to account for these crimes against humanity and leave Iraq (despite what Obama says) and Afghanistan and let the Afghans sort out their own problems. Drugs were controlled under the Taliban, now look at the situation in Russia and Europe thanks to the USA. We all know that 911 had nothing to do with Afghanistan and the mystical Bin Laden.
It does not matter who did what in Afghanistan. The normal humanitarian civil and criminal laws are meaningless to these Afghan savages. The Taliban are an extreme Muslim Fundamentalist group of frustrated men claiming to implement the system of civil law that is based upon the Qurâ??an and the Ahadith. The Taliban Islamic movement organized a successful military attack on 27-Sept-1996 on the Communist regime, seized Kabul and announced their intent of establishing a pure Islamic society modelled after their own interpretation of the teachings of the Qur'an. The basis of their civil law is the Sharia, an ancient Muslim legal code. Muslims believe that Shariah is not something the intelligence of man can prove wrong, it is only to be accepted by humans, since it is based on the will of Allah. Heavy restrictions were placed on the behaviour of all citizens -- particularly women.
Strict interpretation of Islamic law by the Taliban calls for the death penalty for any woman found in the company of a man other than a close family member. A woman, found guilty of trying to leave the country with a man was caught and stoned to death on 28-March-1996.
Other restrictions imposed on women:
Women are not permitted to work outside their homes.
Schools for girls are permanently closed.
Once they reach puberty, females cannot talk to men or be in the presence of a man who is not a blood relative.
A woman who leaves her home must have an approved reason.
Women must wear a head-to-toe garment called burqa when outside of the home.
Aid programs that brought relieve to tens of thousands of Afghan women are stopped; future aid must be routed through the women's male blood relatives.
Some Taliban mullahs have promised to relax restrictions as soon as the resistance within 10 northern provinces is overcome. However, they affirm that the continued restrictions on women will be necessary to prevent the country from falling into the pit of "evil and corruption" that the emancipation of women has brought to western countries.
In 1997 they ordered all pictures of people or animals destroyed, since they are deemed to be offensive to Islam. White socks were once common; they are now banned for being sexually provocative. Men are required to grow bushy beards, and must attend prayers at mosques. Cards, listening to music, keeping pigeons, flying kites and other frivolous activities are banned.
@TomNightingale: I'd like to hear you say that to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
It is encouraging to see most comments focus on the attitude to women and not the nature of the punishment per se (as I had expected). I'd happily have such punishments available for (e.g.) mugging, cruelty to children and many others. And the Taleban man, evil though he must be, was right in principle about showing people what can happen in order to deter others................................................................................
@Dave Brown:....
"Until Christianity is allowed to be worshipped in the middle east as an equal to Islam, then we should have nothing more to do with the lunatics.".......................................................................
Dave, Don't you see that Christianity is as loony as any other religion, a belief about the big spookie-wookie in the sky, the big chief wallah-wallah-woosha?
When the Americans go to war one of reasons they claim is to protect their way of life
So if flogging pregnant women is part of the Islamic way of life why should the world intervene
The thinking that leads to this type of behaviour towards women is a part of the culture of much of the Islamic world. It has been going on for centuries and it is naive of any of us in the west to think that we can change it merely by "educating" those responsible. Whether NATO pulls out of Afghanistan tomorrow or ten years from now, the barbaric punishments will continue in sophisticated Saudi Arabia, corrupt Pakistan and backward Afghanistan.
Countless similar barbaric acts took place here in Europe during the Dark and Middle Ages.
The difference is that we have progressed, whilst they have not.
Please condemn the brutality for what it is but do not link it to the withdrawl of Nato forces. This is an atrocity committed in a time of war and should rather be linked to the criminal acts of the USA and it's NATO allies. The sooner the occupying armies leave Afghanistan the more likely there will be a return to some sort of order. The "west's" record in Iraq gives it no mandate to prescribe to any nation what laws it should or should not have.
Another example of why every democaracy in the west should ban this barbaric, stone-age cult. Until Christianity is allowed to be worshipped in the middle east as an equal to Islam, then we should have nothing more to do with the lunatics.
I am sure this Lady was loyal to her Husband & loved him very much. I am sure he would have been sadden to know she was treated this way. Dont think any animal in the whole world would have been treated that way. It must have been pure hate to beat her TWO HUNDRED times first! It's amazing they even 'waste' THREE bullets on her as she would have been dead already from the beatings. I hope those who did this never sleep again! But EVERY NIGHT HEAR HER REAL CRIES & MAY THEIR SONS DIE THE SAME WAY!!!!!!!
That is absolutly disgusting. How can they excute a pregant woman?
This is yet another horrific example of atrocities carried out on human beings in that part of the world. Of course, in the west we treat women as human beings, not as livestock or worse. There are obviously many instances of ill treatment, rape etc but these are not seen as acceptable behaviour and it is the instigator not the victims that are punished. The laws in these backward thinking countries appear to be written by and supported by feeble minded and cruel individuals who think no more about their actions towards women than a young child would when pulling the wings off a fly or the legs off a spider (I don't condone these actions). Maybe if the man involved in rape or adultery risked punishment, lets say having his testicles cut off and sewn onto his top lip, the laws might be changed and become more humane. I'm sure there will be some people out there who will see the last sentence as a legitimate approach: it's not, but it should suggest what a balanced approach to current laws in Afganistan might achieve.