A YOUNG couple have been executed for trying to elope, by being shot with AK-47s by a Taleban firing squad in front of a crowd, it emerged yesterday.
The woman, Gul Pecha, 19, and the man, Abdul Aziz, 21, had been accused by the militants in south-western Afghanistan of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided they should be killed on Monday, officials said.
The two had h
oped to travel to Iran, which borders their home province of Nimroz, but their parents sent villagers to bring them home, said provincial council chief Sadiq Chakhansori.
Miss Pecha was said to be an ethnic Pashtun and a member of the Sunni sect of Islam, while Mr Aziz was from the Shia sect.
Reports differed on what happened once they were back home. Some said they were turned over to the Taleban by their parents, others that the militants took them by force.
"Unfortunately, Khash Rod (where the shooting happened] is almost out of the control of the government," said Government Ghulam Dastagir Azad. "We don't have coalition or Afghan army forces there like we do in other districts."
In remote and dangerous regions of Afghanistan, Taleban fighters operate what are sometimes referred to as shadow governments, where militant leaders serve as government officials and run their own police units and pseudo-court systems.
"Through legal channels it would take months to prove such a case," Mr Azad said. "How can these people make a decision in four days and kill them? No-one has the right to kill anybody without the decision of a court."
