The five rapists in court

AFGHANISTAN: ONE KIDNAPPER, FIVE RAPISTS EXECUTED

October 8, 2014: The Afghan government executed by hanging the leader of a kidnappers' ring and five rapists in Kabul's central jail, the Pul-e-Charkhi prison.
"The kidnappers' ring leader Khalid, nicknamed Habib Istalif, and five rapists were hanged on the gallows in the compound of Pul-e-Charkhi prison," a police official, who declined to be named, told Xinhua.
Habib Istalif, according to police, was a notorious outlaw who had been involved in kidnapping children and wealthy persons for ransom, robbery and killing.
The other five men were convicted in the gang rape of four women, an incident that caused widespread outrage from the Afghan public.
On 22 August, a group of armed men dressed in police uniforms stopped two cars heading into Kabul from a wedding party in a nearby suburb. The occupants were beaten and robbed while four women in the group were separated from their relatives and raped by the armed men at the roadside. One of the women was pregnant.
Less than two weeks after the incident, and days before the trial, then-president Hamid Karzai’s spokesman released a statement saying Karzai wanted the culprits to face “the strongest possible sentences as soon as possible.”
The 7 September trial itself lasted only about two hours and was the nation’s first to be televised live. The trial was conducted amid widespread street demonstrations calling for the immediate executions of the accused.
The death sentences were upheld in an appeals court on 15 September and by the Supreme Court on 24 September, and confirmed by President Karzai.
During the trial the victims identified their rapists from a lineup that included only the defendants. Also problematic was the convicting court’s reliance on confessions from the accused – some of which appeared to have been made under coercion – instead of physical evidence.
One day after the trial ended in the men’s conviction, Karzai ordered the men be put to death for their crimes.
Before the executions, carried out in Pul-e-Charkhi jail, the United Nations and human rights groups had called on the new president, Ashraf Ghani, to halt the executions.
Historically, sexual crimes against women have been underprosecuted in Afghanistan, with rape becoming a crime only in 2009 after significant international donor pressure. In this case, the executed men were charged with armed robbery and “zina,” a crime that is closer to adultery than rape.
These executions marked the first executions in Afghanistan in 2014. Under the administration of former President Karzai (December 2001-September 2014), at least 51 executions were carried out in the country. (Sources: Stars and Stripes, 08/10/2014)