Afghanistan - A 21-year-old Afghan woman was stoned to death for posting a ‘provocative’ picture on Instagram. Afia Hafeez posted a picture showing her neck, arms up to her shoulders, and shorts to her knees. Her village of Akhzarat sentenced her to death and the execution by stoning was carried out by the village.
The UN and Instagram were quick to condemn the sentence, but there was nothing they could do. The mother tried to remove the photo and deactivate the Instagram account but it was too late.
Afia was buried up to neck with dirt and pummeled with rocks until she was dead. The punishment is stopped when vultures start circling the carcass or they run out of stones to throw. The villager who can throw the biggest rock the farthest and hit the head wins a free chicken.
BBC News spoke with Afia’s family members about the stoning death sentence which they adamantly agreed with. Her uncle Tali Hafeez said, “She did it to herself.”
“She was a good teenage girl. I would rape her on a weekly basis, and she hardly ever cried. It was a good relationship with her, she had a great body. The only bad thing she had done prior was trying to learn to read and even dared to travel to India to attend school. We let her slide on that with only fifty lashes, but the picture showing too much of her body was a sin against Muhamad. We couldn’t believe she would stoop to such a low level.”
Her father Osama Hafeez said, “Did she think she was Kim Kardashian or something?
“I blame Obama for her reckless behavior. It’s his fault she was stoned to death. As her father, it was tough throwing the first stone and I hope Obama can sleep well at night knowing what he caused.”
It is not known exactly how many people are stoned to death in Afghanistan each year, but estimates put it into the 1,000s. Most stonings are for women, many under the age of 14, accused of adultery. However, plenty of other reasons can be used in the culturally celebrated and archaic practice.
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