Taliban Man Publicly Executes Woman Accused Of Adultery As Crowd Of Men Cheer [Video]

A woman near Kabul, Afghanistan was publicly executed after being accused of adultery, and video of the killing shows a man shooting her while men in the background cheer.

MSNBC reports that the man who shot her is a member of the Taliban, according to Afghan officials, and the killing is a sign that women’s rights in Afghanistan may have lost momentum. It also shows that the austere Islamist group still dictates law, even close to the Afghanistan capital.

The video that surfaced shows a turban-clad man approaching a woman kneeling in the dirt. The man shoots her nine times at close range with an automatic rifle, despite the fact that she falls over after the third shot. The men in the Parwan province village, about 150, cheer as she is murdered. One man can be heard saying:

“Allah warns us not to get close to adultery because it’s the wrong way. It is the order of Allah that she be executed.”

CNN reports that officials believe she was really killed because two Taliban commanders were disputing over her. Both shared a relationship with her, according to the Parwan provincial governor, Abdul Basir Salangi.

He explained that, “In order to save face,” they accused the woman of adultery, faking a court “to decide about the fate of this woman and in one hour, they executed the woman.” He went on to say that both Taliban commanders were, in turn, killed by a third Taliban commander. Salangi went on to say:

“We went there to investigate and we are still looking for people who were involved in this brutal act.”

CNN notes that Lawmaker Fawzia Koofi has called the killing a huge backward step for women’s issues in the country. She said:

“I think we will have to do something serious about this, we will have to do something as women, but also as human beings. She didn’t even say one word to defend herself.”

Warning: Video below is graphic, as it contains raw video of the unidentified woman being shot:

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