02 July 2015

Afghanistan Said to Overturn Death Sentences in Woman’s Lynching

An Afghan court has overturned the death sentences of four men convicted in the lynching of a woman who had been falsely accused of burning the Quran, a lawyer connected to the case and a politician said on Thursday.

In a nation in which violence against women is commonplace and so-called honor killings often go unpunished, the death in March of the woman, named Farkhunda, managed to galvanize Afghanistan as no other case had.

Videos of her final moments, taken by members of the mob that surrounded her, showed Farkhunda pleading as she was kicked and stomped, and was later tied to the back of a car and dragged to the garbage-strewn banks of the Kabul River. There her attackers set fire to her body. [NYTimes.com] Read more