AFGHANISTAN. SIX AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE BY HELMAND COURT

April 21, 2008: the High court in the southern province of Helmand, a one time Taliban bastion in Afghanistan, sentenced six people charged with abduction cases to death.
The six kidnappers, according to Maulvi Abdul Wahid Afghani, who publicly declared the verdict, were arrested from Nawa district of the province last year.
Suspected abductors kidnapped Nazar Muhammad and demanded three million rupees ransom from his family. Muhammad was recovered as a result of police raid and the captors were arrested.
Shah Sanam Sham, an attorney in the province, said the arrested admitted they committed many abductions and killed them if they failed to provide the ransom.
One of the outlaws was from eastern Laghman province while the rest five were from Helmand, he added. (Sources: Pajhwok Afghan News, 21/04/2008)