The stoning to death of a 19-year-old girl in Ghor province has highlighted the power that summary justice still has in more remote parts of Afghanistan where state institutions struggle to maintain their authority.
The young woman had previously tried to get away to Herat, west of Ghor, when her family tried to marry her off to a much older man. When she returned, she was married off to another man who was also elderly. She ran away again, this time with a 22-year-old man who lived nearby.
When she was caught, Rukhshana was accused of committing adultery. A video later emerged showing the young woman buried in a hole in the ground with just her head showing, while men threw stones at her. She could be heard praying and moaning as she was struck. The young man she ran away with received a more lenient punishment, 100 lashes.
Punishment decided by community elders
Although local security forces accused the Taleban of carrying out the killing execution, a leading insurgent in Ghor denied this. Maulavi Abdulmanan Niazi, an aide to local Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Rasul, said the Taleban were not involved.
Worrying conditions for women
Anwari said state-run courts were also known to order corporal punishment under Islamic law. A young couple accused of adultery were flogged publicly in Ferozkuh after a ruling by an official court.
More generally, Anwari expressed concern at a rising tide of violence against women in Ghor. She said 76 cases of violence were reported to her department in the Afghan year beginning March 2015, compared with 48 in the whole of the preceding year. She noted that this was just a tiny fraction of the likely total, as most cases were never reported.
Anwari blamed poverty, weak government and the widespread presence of insurgent groups, as well as a general lack of knowledge of the rights that Islam granted to women.
Morality crimes
Provincial governor Sima Joyenda, one of only two women who hold such a post in Afghanistan, also highlighted the grave state of affairs.
Læs hele artiklen hos Institute for War and Peace Reporting
