KABUL // Five Afghan men were hanged on Wednesday over a gang rape that sparked a national outcry, despite the United Nations and human rights groups calling for President Ashraf Ghani to stay the executions.
The brutal attack of the four women in Paghman, outside Kabul, triggered demands from many Afghans that the men be hanged.
Then-president Hamid Karzai signed their death sentences shortly before leaving office last week.
“Five men in connection to the Paghman incident ... were executed this afternoon,” Rahmatullah Nazari, the deputy attorney general said.
There was no immediate comment from the office of President Ghani, who faced strong public pressure to not stay the executions after he came to power on August 29.
The EU ambassador in Kabul, Franz-Michael Mellbin, strongly criticised the hangings, and questioned Mr Ghani’s failure to intervene.
“Today’s executions cast a dark shadow over the new Afghan government’s will to uphold basic human rights,” Mr Mellbin said on Twitter soon after the news broke.
In August, the armed gang members, wearing police uniforms, stopped a convoy of cars returning to Kabul at night from a wedding in Paghman.
The attackers tied up men in the group before raping at least four of the women and stealing their valuables.
But the court process raised major concerns, with the trial lasting only a few hours, allegations of the suspects confessing under torture, and Mr Karzai calling for the men to be hanged even before the case was heard.
In a statement before the executions, the UN high commission for human rights “called on President Ghani to refer the cases back to the courts given the very serious due process concerns”.
Amnesty said the trial had been rushed, giving lawyers little time to prepare the defence. It was only nine days between the arrests and the handing down of death sentences by the primary court.
The trial was “marred by inconsistencies, un-investigated torture claims and political interference”, Amnesty said.
The accused were found guilty and sentenced at a nationally-televised trial, which attracted noisy rallies outside the courtroom calling for the death penalties.
The sentences were quickly confirmed by the appeals court and the supreme court.
“The horrendous due process violations in the Paghman trial have only worsened the injustices of this terrible crime,” said Phelim Kine of Human Rights Watch.
The case has become a symbol of the violence that women face in Afghanistan, despite reforms since the Taliban regime fell in 2001.
* Agence France-Presse
