‘Justice was not done’ after woman’s murder
Attacks on females increased in Afghanistan since brutal mob killing last March
KABUL— Along a road overlooking a trash-filled riverbed, visitors from across the country stop at a memorial to Afghanistan’s most famous murdered woman. They snap photos of the drooping green Islamic flags and the spiny pine tree planted in her honour. They read the poem written on a red board that eulogizes her death.
And they express a widely held sense of disappointment and anger.
“Farkhunda was a victim, and yet justice was not done,” said Mohammad Salim, 45, a government employee who was visiting from the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. “They should have hanged her killers on this very spot.”
Nearly six months ago, at the site of Farkhunda’s memorial, a rock- and stick-wielding mob killed the 27year-old Islamic scholar after she was falsely accused of burning a Qur’an. The savagery unfolded as hundreds of people, including police, watched. Her death triggered public outrage, protests and a soul-searching unlike any seen in Afghanistan in recent memory, raising hopes that rule of law would finally prevail in a nation where women are all too often brutalized.
Today, those hopes have dwindled. Most of Farkhunda’s alleged attackers have gone unpunished or have had their sentences reduced, leading many Afghans to conclude that bribes, tribal allegiances and age-old customs have influenced the outcome.
Farkhunda’s family, as well as female activists fighting for justice, have received numerous threats. And violence against Afghan women shows no sign of declining. Since Farkhunda’s death in March, there have been at least 450 attacks on women in Kabul and surrounding areas, a 12-per-cent increase over the corresponding period last year, according to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
“We are facing several roadblocks,” said Wida Saghary, 30, an activist with the Justice for Farkhunda Campaign. Like many Afghans, Farkhunda used only one name.
In the days after Farkhunda’s mur- der, thousands of Afghans took to social media and to the streets demanding justice and denouncing violence against women. At the scholar’s funeral, Saghary and other women carried her coffin — an act traditionally done by men — shattering a cultural taboo.
Under pressure, the government took swift action. Authorities charged 49 men in connection with her slaying, including 19 police officers who were accused of failing to protect Farkhunda. Officials who initially praised her killing as justified to protect Islam were sacked. A government fact-finding commission determined that Farkhunda had gotten into an argument with a seller of charms, bits of paper with handwritten Qur’anic verses said to have magical properties, at one of Kabul’s most historic mosques. She criticized his business as un-Islamic. In retaliation, he publicly accused her of burning the Qur’an, prompting the mob to lynch her.
But even at the height of the protests, activists were concerned that some traditional religious leaders would obstruct the probe, concerned it could reflect badly on the mosque where the argument occurred — or even on Islam itself.
The government also had a poor track record of protecting Afghan women. Although gender equality is enshrined in the constitution, many women endure high levels of violence, driven by tribal customs and religious beliefs. Their attackers are rarely prosecuted.
The activists’ fears of limited results have, so far, proved true.
At trial, 23 of the 49 men were convicted, while the rest were acquitted. Four men were sentenced to death, eight received 16-year sentences and 11 police officers were sentenced to one year each in prison. It was unclear whether any of the officers have served any time yet.
Last month, an appellate court in a closed session threw out the death sentences of the four men. Three of them were sentenced to 20 years in prison, including the charm-seller, Zainuddin; a fourth was declared a minor and got a 10-year sentence. The court also pardoned the caretaker of the shrine, Mohammad Omran, who was initially sentenced to16 years in prison. Witnesses said he had also accused Farkhunda of burning the Qur’an.
Outside the judicial system, efforts to punish Farkhunda’s killers and use her legacy to champion women’s rights have run into hurdles. Conser- vative clerics and their followers have targeted female activists, accusing them of being anti-religious people, infidels and prostitutes.
A government promise to shut down businesses of charm sellers has not been carried out. And Farkhunda has been portrayed as a unique case, rather than an example of the threats facing many women.
“All these issues have made us unable, so far, to provide justice for Farkhunda,” said Munera Yousufzada, 30, a gallery owner and women’s rights activist, who was among those who carried Farkhunda’s coffin at her funeral. In the judicial realm, the activists may get another chance. A panel of lawyers appointed last month by President Ashraf Ghani is planning to recommend to the Supreme Court that it send the case back for a retrial.