Afghan protesters marched the streets of Kabul in defiant condemnation of an attack that saw an Afghan woman brutally murdered in the streets of their city.
Afghan protesters have taken to the streets of Kabul to denounce the murder of woman who was beaten, lynched and set on fire after being falsely accused of burning the Qur’an.
On Monday, hundreds of locals, mostly women, marched through the streets of the Afghanistan capital. Many were wearing masks with an image of the real and bloodied face of the victim, Farkunda.
Protesters were there to demand justice for her murder and were calling for immediate action from the government to condemn the attack.
Women’s rights activists carried the coffin of Farkunda through the streets, an act usually only ever designated to men.
Protesters planted a tree to commemorate the victim. One woman who visited the shrine on Monday said the attack was “not just an attack on Farkhunda, but on all Afghan women. They have killed us all”, she told the BBC.
Read more: Afghanistan arrests 26 people over woman’s violent murder.
The murder was condemned by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who said it a “heinous attack” and called for an investigation.
The 27-year-old woman was killed last week after confronting a fortune teller and promoting a more orthodox approach to Islam.
After getting into an argument with the man he told those around him she had burnt the Qur’an and was taking part in superstitious practices. She was then beaten with sticks and rocks, thrown off a roof, dragged and run over by a car, set on fire and finally thrown into the Kabul river.
Read more: Men take to the streets of Kabul in burqas to protest gender inequality.
Police have reportedly arrested 26 people over the murder after their investigation found the victim was “totally innocent”, General Mohammad Zahir told AP reporters.
“Last night I went through all documents and evidence once again, but I couldn’t find any evidence to say Farkhunda burnt the Holy Koran.”
The father of the murdered woman told BBC that he changed the family surname to Farkunda in honour of his daughter who was studying to be a teacher.
Top Comments
So many of the men in places like this (including India and Pakistan) have an insane view of women.
I can only think that if those men were happy, contented, educated about women and the world around them, peaceful and emotionally nourished - this kind of thing would rarely happen.......particularly in a mob.
You take young boys and throw them together into a strict, religious school....make them sit at the feet of angry. dysfunctional teachers.........lead them through their impression-filled teenage years (when they're supposed to be full of hope & wonder and very natural curiosity about girls) only to fill their heads with disgraceful misinformation & hate-filled rhetoric about "Infidels", women & their status in the world.
And so one female dares to rebel, criticize & answer back..................clearly, she MUST be killed.
Kindness seems to be scarce in these communities and that country's authorities have a duty of care to it's most vulnerable citizens to ensure that that country even has a future at all.
Puts it all into perspective. Although women here in the west have challenges to face, we have no idea what it is like to be a woman in a place like that, to not even be able to voice an opinion, in case you are brutally tortured to death.
The women protesting this are so strong and so brave. My heart goes out to them and I hope they can make a change. May they, and their daughter and grand daughters, be able to have the same freedoms that I have, that I take for granted everyday.