Afghan Couple Stoned to Death by Taliban Order by Mike, at Feminist Looking Glass 12:51 pm / 16 August 2010
In perhaps the most telling example yet of the consequences of the Taliban’s increasing return to power, a 19-year old woman and a 25-year old man were stoned to death pursuant to Taliban orders. The two were in love. They eloped when the man was unable to persuade family members to allow him to marry the woman. The woman was engaged to marry a relative of her lover, but was unwilling to do so.
The death sentence for adultery was imposed by a religious “court” under Shariah law. Horribly, the deaths were carried out by hundreds of the victims’ neighbors and even family members. All of the people doing the stoning were male.
While many authorities condemned the stonings (A spokesman for the provincial government said: “It is against all human rights and international conventions. There was no court. It was cruel.”), the supposed “mainstream religious authorities” in Afghanistan appear to be cowering to the Taliban. In one example, a local head of the national Ulema Council said that stoning to death was the appropriate punishment for an illegal sexual relationship. And, on August 10, a group of 350 religious “scholars” and government officials issued a joint statement “calling for more punishment under Shariah, apparently referring to stoning, amputations and lashings.”
Of course, none of this should be surprising. The Taliban and their religious law were horrible when they were last in power. When they started to resume power, they promised to curb their worst disgraces and then (certainly not surprisingly) resumed the oppression and brutality. The Afghani government has made overtures to reconciliation and giving the Taliban even more power. Maybe these stoning deaths will quash those overtures.
