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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Six including cleric arrested for killing Afghan woman |
| 2005-05-01 |
| Afghan authorities have arrested a mullah and five others for the killing of a woman accused of adultery, an official said on Saturday. The six, including the mullah, or Islamic preacher, were arrested last week after the Ministry of Interior dispatched investigators to the northwestern province of Badakhshan following reports - quickly denied - that the woman was stoned to death. "The mullah who authorized the father to kill her was not a judge," Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal told The Associated Press. "The killing was against the law." Islamic law permits the death penalty against women for adultery, though the punishment was more commonly reported under the former Taliban government. Mashal said the woman may have been beaten, but not stoned, before she was fatally shot with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. He said the mullah, the woman's father, her alleged lover and three others would go on trial soon in the capital on charges being prepared by the attorney-general. Officials say the victim, Amina, who was in her late 20s, was killed on April 21, a day after being caught in the home of a man called Mohammed Karim. Karim was beaten but escaped with his life, officials said. |
| Posted by:Fred |