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'What Does the Killing of Four Men Do?': Anger Over Afghan Mob Killing Verdict

The brother of Farkhunda, the Afghan woman beaten to death by a mob in Kabul while police looked on, told VICE News the sentencing of just four men for the brutal crime does not represent justice.
Photo by Rahmat Gul/AP

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A Kabul court sentenced four men to death on Wednesday for the brutal mob killing of an Afghan woman falsely accused of blasphemy.

The 27-year-old victim, known only as Farkhunda, was brutally beaten by a frenzied crowd on March 19 in central Kabul. After being battered with sticks and rocks, her body was thrown into the street, run over with a car then set ablaze on the banks of the Kabul river. Police at the scene reportedly looked on.

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Visibly upset after the sentence was delivered, Farkhunda's brother Najibullah Malikzadah told VICE News the family had never had any faith in the judicial proceedings. "We were promised that all of the perpetrators will be found and brought to justice," he said. "But what does the killing of four men do when so many participated or stood back and watched?"

The four men — Zainul Abiddin, Mohammad Yaqub, Mohammad Sharif and Abdul Bashir — were among 49 people who were charged in connection with the crime. Judge Saifullah Mujadidi gave eight other defendants 16-year jail terms but found 18 more not guilty on charges that included murder, assault, and incitement. Many had expected more defendants to face punishment.

Verdicts on the remaining 19 defendants, all members of the police accused of failing to intervene in the attack, are due to be delivered on Sunday. The court also ordered that three suspects, thought to be central to the case and still on the run, should be apprehended immediately.

Related: Family of Afghan Woman Murdered by Mob Says She Was 'Devoted to Islam' and Did Not Burn the Quran

Heather Barr, Asia researcher in the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), criticized the verdict for both a lack of due legal process as well as for not bringing enough of those who had taken part in the killing to justice.

"Farkhunda verdict means only 12 people held accountable for attack which dozens participated in, even though it was all on video," she tweeted. "Lawyers conspicuously absent, trial rushed, death penalty wrongly applied, too many due process problems…. One more bad day for justice in Afghanistan. And no real action on violence against women. Where is #JusticeforFarkhunda?"

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HRW's associate Afghanistan researcher Ahmad Shuja also expressed concern about the judicial process, particularly the speed of the trial, which lasted just a few days, the lack of proper representation for all of the defendants, and claims of mistreatment of suspects. "[There are] allegations from defendants about being tortured while in custody," he said.

The four men sentenced to death will have the right to appeal.

Kabul-based lawyer Saeeq Shajjan told VICE News the verdict on the 19 security and police officials would be "extremely important," though the maximum sentence they could receive for their charges of negligence would be a few years in prison. "If they are handed sentences it will be a sign to others that there must be order and a real commitment to protecting the citizens of the country," he said.

Cellphone footage of Farkhunda's last moments was taken by both onlookers and participants in the killing then widely circulated on social media channels, in some cases alongside boasts by the perpetrators themselves. Her death prompted widespread outrage and public protests in a country where women face frequent violence and are offered little legal redress.

The attack took place after she got in an argument with an amulet seller who then accused her of setting fire to a copy of the Quran. A subsequent investigation found that she had not done so, although some political and religious figures subsequently said that her murder would have been justified if she had.

UN Special Rapporteur Rashida Manjoo has described violence against women in Afghanistan as "widespread and systematic," and perpetrators rarely face justice. An April UN report found that just 5 percent of more than 100 cases of violence against Afghan women resulted in criminal prosecution and sanctions against the perpetrators.

Follow John Beck on Twitter: @JM_Beck

Follow Ali M Latifi on Twitter: @alibomaye