A 30-year-old Afghan woman was reportedly beheaded by a group of Taliban militants for "infidelity act" of going shopping without her husband. The horrific act took place in the remote village of Latti in Afghanistan's Sar-e-Pul province, which is under Taliban control, the Independent reported.
Afghanistan's first female fixed-wing pilot requests US asylum over safety fears
On Tuesday, the woman was stabbed and beheaded by a group of armed men while her husband was in Iran. The Taliban, however, has denied any responsibility for the beheading of the woman.
The Taliban, which is a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim movement in Afghanistan, enforces strict rules on women which restrict their freedom. Reports state that the Taliban forbids women from speaking too loudly, venturing out without a male relative and also limits their education and forbids them from working. If women do not abide by their laws, the militant group punishes them with lashes and sometimes with executions.
Recently, Captain Niloofar Rahmani, Afghanistan's first female fixed-wing pilot and the first woman to be trained as an Afghan Air Force pilot, had requested asylum in the United States over safety concerns. Rahmani reportedly made the request after she and her family received death threats from militant organisations.
Last week, Rahmani was scheduled to return home from the US after completing a 15-month training course. However, a day before her departure, she declared that she did not wish to go because she feared for her safety. Rahmani's request, however, has drawn criticism from many in Afghanistan. She is now facing flak for "betraying" her country in her attempt to seek asylum in the US.
"I am sure she lied by saying she was threatened, just to win the asylum case," Afghan Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said this weekend, according to the New York Times.
