AFGHANS PUSHING FOR A RETURN TO PUBLIC EXECUTION

the religious council for provinces in western Afghanistan issued a statement calling for, among other things, public executions ‘as a lesson’ to criminals. Afghans, encouraged by President Hamid Karzai’s decision to execute seven convicted criminals this month, are calling for a return to Taliban-era public executions to deal with a surge in crime. Afghans wholeheartedly welcomed the executions, with one newspaper praising the move in an editorial entitled “Thank you, Mr. President.” The president said that he would consider public executions for those behind an acid attack on schoolgirls in the southern city of Kandahar. “I will accept public execution so people can see those who have carried out such barbaric acts... are executed in front of the world’s eyes,” he said.