KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan appeals court confirmed death sentences on Monday against five of the seven defendants in a notorious robbery and rape case, despite their claims that their confessions were extracted through torture.
For the other two defendants, the court found insufficient evidence to justify the death penalty, so it reduced their sentences to 20 years’ imprisonment.
The seven men were accused of dressing in police uniforms and stopping a caravan of cars returning from a wedding in the Paghman district, less than half an hour’s drive from Kabul; robbing the occupants; and raping four of the women by the roadside.
The Kabul police department was under enormous public pressure to solve the case, which prompted national outrage and revulsion.
Almost from the start, questions have been raised about whether the suspects were being railroaded by the government. President Hamid Karzai promised to approve the death penalty against the men even before their two-hour trial on Sept. 7.
The entire case against them rested on their confessions and on their identification by victims at a police lineup. But all seven men said that they had been severely beaten by police officers until they confessed to the rapes, and that the police had told the victims whom to identify in a lineup that included no one other than them.
Source: The New York Times, Sept. 15, 2014
