Pregnant widow flogged and shot dead by the Taleban

Three Taleban mullahs condemned a pregnant widow to be flogged and shot in public, in a remote part of western Afghanistan on Sunday, after convicting her of having an affair.

Mullah Daoud, a senior Taleban commander contacted by this newspaper, said that he had sat on the panel of three judges which reached the decision, in an area of Badghis province firmly under militant control.

“There were three mullahs that passed this verdict. I was one of them,” he said. “We gave this decision so that in future no one should have these illegal affairs. We whipped her in front of all the local people, to show them an example. Then we shot her.”

Afghan police said that the woman’s body was later dumped in an area under government control. “She was shot in the head in public while she was still pregnant,” Ghulam Mohammad Sayeedi, the deputy police chief in Badghis, said.

Mullah Daoud said that elders in Quds district had approached the insurgents when the woman became pregnant, many years after her husband had died. Police named her as Bibi Sanubar. Reports of her age ranged from 35 to 45.

“She had an illegal relationship with a man who was not her husband,” Mullah Daoud said. “Her husband died many years before. Then she became pregnant. So, according to Islam, we gave her a very strong punishment. It was more than 200 lashes. Then we shot her.”