AFGHANISTAN: Criminals in Afghanistan will continue to be punished with amputations and stonings under Islamic Sharia law as part of the interim government's efforts to crack down on crime, Chief Justice Fazul Hadi Shinwari said yesterday.
Chief Justice Shinwari said he wanted adulterers whipped or stoned to death, the hands of robbers amputated and murderers publicly executed, just as the fundamentalist Taliban punished criminals during their six-year rule.
"God says that some people need to be present to witness the punishment as a lesson," he said in an interview.
The Taliban's punishment of criminals and their strict interpretation of Islam - which included other draconian policies such as banning women from work, ordering them to wear an all enveloping burqa, barring girls from education and forcing men to grow beards - drew strong criticism from the West as well as some Islamic countries, but it did help reduce crime.
The Chief Justice criticised the Taliban for "turning Islam into a monster", and said the punishment for violators of Islamic law would only be administered upon sufficient evidence.
Crime in some parts of Afghanistan has increased markedly since the departure of the Taliban. A prominent businessman in Kabul was kidnapped and killed this month.
Supreme court officials said a number of criminals had already been arrested and would be publicly punished once legal procedures were completed.
Under the Taliban, criminals were executed in front of large crowds on football pitches. Convicted adulterer were executed by a having a wall bulldozed on top of them. Robbers had their hands amputated and the limbs displayed to the crowd as an example.
The Chief Justice also warned foreigners against trying to convert Afghans from Islam to other religions.
The Taliban last year detained and then put on trial eight foreigners working for a Christian aid agency on charges of spreading Christianity and converting local Muslims.
The two Americans, two Germans and four Australians were rescued last November by US troops after the Taliban government fled Kabul with their prisoners.
Meanwhile, the interim Afghan leader, Mr Hamid Karzai, on a visit to China, said yesterday that security, education, health and roads top the list of priorities for spending the $4.5 billion pledged in Tokyo for rebuilding his shattered nation.
The Afghan Minister for Reconstruction, Mr Amin Farhang, said restoring security was critical.
"We will pay any price for security and I'm sure that the Afghan people as well as their leaders are aware that you cannot achieve any reconstruction without security," he said. - (Reuters)
US special forces raided two al-Qaeda compounds in Afghanistan, killing more than a dozen people and capturing 27 others, US defence officials said yesterday.A US commando was lightly wounded in the ankle, the defence officials said.The solider, who was not identified, was wounded by enemy fire on Wednesday during the raid on "Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership targets" about 100 km north of Kandahar, a spokesman for the US Central Command said.