Afghan Judge Sentences 4 to Death in Mob Killing of Woman
Source: ABC
Judge Safiullah Mojadedi handed down the four death sentences at Afghanistan's Primary Court in Kabul on Wednesday. He also sentenced eight of the defendants to 16 years in prison and dropped charges against 18. The remaining suspects are to be sentenced on Sunday.
Farkhunda's brutal killing shocked many Afghans, though some public and religious figures said it would have been justified if she had in fact damaged a Quran. A presidential investigation later found that she had not damaged a copy of the Muslim holy book.
The last agonizing and brutal moments of her life were captured on mobile phone cameras by witnesses and those in the mob that attacked her. The videos of the assault circulated widely on social media. They showed her being punched, kicked, beaten with planks of wood, pushed by police onto a roof and dropped from it, thrown in the street and run over by a car. She then had a lump of concrete dropped on her and her body was dragged along the road outside the mosque were the assault took place and tossed onto the bank of the Kabul River. A crowd watched as her body was set on fire.
The incident sparked nationwide outrage and soul-searching, as well as a civil society movement seeking to limit the power of clerics, strengthen the rule of law and improve women's rights.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-judge-sentences-death-mob-killing-woman-30834369
Original story
6 arrests after mob beats, burns Afghan woman
Source: CNN
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)Grieving women carried her coffin high on their shoulders in scenes many said they had never witnessed before in the Afghan capital.
Men are traditionally pallbearers in Kabul, where days earlier a mob of male attackers beat and kicked 27-year-old Farkhunda before tossing her off a bridge, setting her body on fire and throwing it in the river. Like many Afghans, Farkhunda used only one name.
Early reports suggested that Farkhunda was mentally ill, but her tearful father, Nadir, told CNN affiliate TOLOnews she was a religious teacher who taught the Quran to children. He said there was no way his daughter would burn pages of the holy book, which has been cited as the motive for the horrific attack.
Twenty-six people have been arrested in connection with the brutal killing, Afghanistan's Interior Minister Noorul Haq Ulumi said Monday in a statement before parliament.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/23/asia/afghanistan-woman-killed/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29
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