Afghan officials say the Taliban have stoned to death a 19-year-old woman in the city of Firoz-Koh in Ghor Province.
Local police official Mohammad Zaman Azimi told RFE/RL on October 26 that the woman, identified only as Rokhshana, was killed the previous day. Her fiancé, a 23-year-old man named Mohammad Gul, was reportedly lashed.
The couple allegedly had fled their families in a bid to find a place to be married.
Masooma Anwari, head of women's affairs in Ghor Province, expressed grave concern over the situation of women in the province.
"It's not legal at all. It’s not acceptable that the woman was killed and the man was lashed. We are very sad about the incident," she told RFE/RL's Gandhara website. "It’s merely a rumor that the woman was not happy with her husband so she met such a fate. The law should handle this, not extrajudicial trials."
Anwari said the incompetence of the local government has paved the way for such incidents.
This is not the first case of extreme punishment being meted out in Ghor Province.
In August, an Afghan man and woman publicly received 100 lashes in the province after local mullahs alleged them of committing adultery.
During the Taliban’s rein in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, public executions and lashings were common.
as/fg