Taliban gunmen in the remote district of Khash Rod in southern Afghanistan executed a young couple for trying to elope, Hashim Noorzai, head of Khash Rud district of Nimroz province said Tuesday.
The girl, Gulsima, 14, had been unhappily engaged to marry when she fell in love with Aziz, aged 17. The two attempted to flee the village of Lokhi to Iran and marriage, but were caught and returned.
A council of elders deadlocked on how to resolve the issue, with half saying execution and half saying marriage. Definitely 180 degrees opposed. Unlike U.S. courts, there was no mistrial. Instead, local Taliban stepped in, overruled the council and declared the pair must be executed.
The pair was shot with AK-47 assault rifles in a public execution.
Ghulam Dastageer Azad, governor of the province, called the execution an "insult to Islam."
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