Afghanistan

A man and a woman who allegedly had an adulterous affair have been stoned and killed in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz.

The punishment happened in a crowded bazaar on Sunday in the Taliban-controlled village of Mullah Quli.

The Taliban have not commented on the public killing, but it was confirmed by local officials and witnesses.

This month the Taliban also reportedly flogged and killed a pregnant widow in western Baghdis province.

Here in Afghanistan, Samia's story is typical – its happy ending is not. Samia is a rape victim, but now it's the morning of her wedding. By late afternoon, she will be married in a private ceremony in Karte Se, Kabul. One of the 150 guests at this extraordinary marriage ceremony will be the activist and suspended MP Malalai Joya: Samia's handsome husband-to-be, Faramarz, has been one of Ms Joya's bodyguards for more than four years.

Without the outspoken MP and her supporters, the wedding would not have been possible, and it is a bitter-sweet occasion for many reasons. Ms Joya, has reached a difficult decision about her own future: she will not stand in parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

We often hear of “honor killing” in the mass media, a practice that exists in some Muslim countries including Afghanistan. An honor killing is the murder of a family or clan member in which the perpetrators are motivated by a belief that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family, clan or community. A comparable, yet less widely publicized form of honour punishment, is gang rape. While honor gang rapes are usually carried out against women, an incident that took place two weeks in Northern Afghanistan involved the gang rape of two young men.

According to a local report, a dozen farmers and shepherds raped two young men as a punishment for engaging in sexual relations with two young women.

Farida sat, subdued, on her metal bed in the safe house. The 17-year-old told her story calmly, in a quiet voice, carefully describing the rapes, running away, and her forced marriage to a drug addict. It was only when she spoke of her future that her face sank into despair, and her eyes filled with tears.

Afghanistan remains one of the worst places in the world to live as a woman. Since 2001, there have been some steps to recognize women's rights. But Human Rights Watch's research shows that many of these advances are reversing course.

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Four people found dead in a southeastern Afghan compound appear to be victims of an honor killing, a senior U.S. military official said on Friday.

The bodies were discovered during an operation by Afghan and NATO-led forces in Paktia province, a volatile region along the border of Pakistan.

KANDAHAR, 11 December 2009 (IRIN) - Rabia, 14, is expecting her first child almost a year after getting married to Haji Obaidullah, aged 49, as his second wife.

“She is supposed to deliver in a few days, but this is her first visit to a health centre,” said Nazia Hemat, an obstetrician at Mia Abdul Hakim Hospital in the southern province of Kandahar.

Rabia is fortunate in being able to visit the hospital: “Men often don’t allow their pregnant women to go to hospitals and doctors,” Ranna Tarin, director of Kandahar women’s affairs department, told IRIN.

Increasing numbers of Afghan women are choosing suicide to escape the brutality of their daily lives, says a new human-rights report prepared by Canada's foreign affairs department.

The 2008 annual assessment paints a grim picture of a country where violence against women and girls is common, despite rising public awareness among Afghans and international condemnation.

When the problems riddling Afghan society are listed – violence, insecurity, corruption, religious fundamentalism – one dominating factor is usually left out: the influence of customary law. In Afghanistan, there are three principal legal references: constitutional law, the Koran, and the system of customary law known as Farhang , the most dominant and strictest version of which is called Pashtunwali (the way of the Pashtuns).

Originally an ancient honor code, Farhang ensures the dominance of the oldest male of any household, followed by married sons, unmarried sons, and grandsons, then wives (with the youngest at the bottom). Collective decisions are taken by patriarchs in councils called jirgas , where all have to be in agreement.

Eight years after the fall of the Taliban, women and girls suffer high levels of violence and discrimination and have poor access to justice and education, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The Afghan government has also failed to bring killers of prominent women in public life to justice, creating an environment of impunity for those who target women.

The 96-page report, "We Have the Promises of the World: Women's Rights in Afghanistan," details emblematic cases of ongoing rights violations in five areas: attacks on women in public life; violence against women; child and forced marriage; access to justice; and girls' access to secondary education.