AFGHANISTAN: RELIGIOUS LEADER ARRESTED FOR APPLYING DEATH PENALTY

July 31, 2013: The Afghan police will submit to justice the case of religious leader Abdul Ghafoor, who issued a death penalty against a girl in the western province of Badghis, accused of adultery, reports said in Kabul. Local Police Chief Sharafuddin Sharaf called the girl's execution an anti-Islamic act and contrary to human principles.
It was an illegal action, because any person should be tried properly by legal institutions and not by unfair religious decrees, said the top official.
According to Sharaf's statements, the execution of the girl was carried out in public, by lapidation, in the locality of Kokchial, after the Mullah (religious leader) announced the death sentence.
Further investigations revealed there was no evidence to back the sentence on the girl.
The police captured Ghafoor and brought him to the relevant institutions. (Sources: Prensa Latina, 31/07/2013)