Four People Arrested After They Beheaded Woman Who Refused To Become A Prostitute

Four People Arrested After They Beheaded Woman Who Refused To Become A Prostitute

Police have arrested four people who allegedly beheaded a young woman after she resisted their attempts to force her into prostitution. 

Mah Gul, 20, was murdered after her mother-in-law tried to force her to sleep with man at her home in the Herat province in the west of the country.

Provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Savedzada confirmed that his officers had arrested the victim's husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and man who killed her, known as Najibullah.

Savedzada added that Gul married her husband four months ago and that there had been several previous attempts to force her into prostitution.

Najibullah was paraded at a press conference following his arrest where he said that the mother-in-law lured him into killing the woman by telling him she was a prostitute.

He said: 'It was around 2:00 am when Gul's husband left for his bakery. I came down and with the help of her mother-in-law killed her with a knife.'

The murder of Mah Gul comes against a backdrop of a world outcry over the shooting by the Taliban  of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who had become a voice against the suppression of women's rights.

While Yousafzai's case has made world headlines, Afghans have made the point that oppression and violence against women are commonplace in the country.

Abdul Qader Rahimi, the regional director of the government-backed human rights commission in western Afghanistan, said violence against women had dramatically increased in the region recently.

Najibullah Najibullah was paraded at a press conference following his arrest where he said that the mother-in-law lured him into killing the woman by telling him she was a prostitute

'There is no doubt violence against women has increased. So far this year we have registered 100 cases of violence against women in the western region,' he said, adding that many cases go unreported.

'But at least in Gul's case, we are glad the murderer has been arrested and brought to justice,' he said.

Last year, in a case that made international headlines, police rescued a teenage girl, Sahar Gul, who was beaten and locked up in a toilet for five months after she defied her in-laws who tried to force her into prostitution.