AFGHANISTAN. 15 EXECUTIONS FOR MURDER, RAPE, OTHER CRIMES

Afghanistan executed 15 people for crimes including murder and rape, in the second confirmed executions since the fall of the Taliban government. State broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) announced the executions and Afghan officials confirmed the executions, saying the men had gone before a firing squad. Among those executed was Reza Khan, convicted of killing three foreign journalists in 2001. A man identified as Farhad was executed for murder and for the May 16, 2005, abduction of Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni.
Timur Shah, the leader of the gang involved in her abduction, was also sentenced to death but was not among the group executed. One source said that Shah had escaped jail just before the execution. A statement, said to be from the Taliban, accused the authorities of only killing men who could not afford bribes to save their lives.