Residents of a mountainous province northeast of Kabul have threatened to stage an anti-government uprising if the rapists of a 12-year-old girl are not sentenced to death.
According to Pajhwok Afghan News, relatives of the victim met with Nafisa Azimi, a member of parliament who heads the Wolesi Jirga’s Commission on Women’s Affairs:
Azimi said an investigation had been launched into the incident that took place about 11 days ago in the Ghuchlan village. Six Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel allegedly raped the 12-year-old, who was then hospitalised.
Abdul Qadir, the girl’s paternal uncle, said the rapists were ALP men and the government should hang them. He said if the rapists were not executed, 5000 youth of the Paracha tribe were ready to launch an uprising against the government.
While crying, Qadir said: “I need to die. I don’t want to be alive. I am a doctor and in the service of this government. My two sons are serving in security organs, they protect people’s honour, but no one is protecting ours. O’ God! I pass me away.”
Abdul Basir, father of the victim, who was crying loudly, said: “I was in Kabul doing labour when my little daughter was sexually abused. God destroy them.”
He was unable to speak and continued crying. He just said the rapists were among the ALP men.
In October, Amnesty International and the United Nations criticized Afghanistan for executing five men convicted in a gang rape, a case that stoked national outrage.
In late August, the group of men stopped a family convoy of four cars at night on Qargha-Paghman road, returning from a wedding in Paghman district. They beat the men and kidnapped four women, whom they repeatedly raped.
Both male and female protesters in Kabul cried out for the death penalty, hoping that handing down the ultimate sentence would discourage other criminals from committing such heinous acts. Five men were hanged. Two other assailants received 20 years in prison; Kabul police said one suspect fled the country.
The women took the stand to testify against their attackers in a televised trial that gripped the nation.
President Hamid Karzai signed the death warrants of the convicted men before leaving office, and new President Ashraf Ghani let the death warrant stand.
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