Afghan police arrest 6 men accused of gang-rape

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan  

A group of six men accused of an unprecedented gang-rape in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul last month, have been arrested, police announced Tuesday. 

The incident, in which four women were gang-raped, shocked Afghanistan's conservative society and there have been calls for the culprits to be publicly executed. 

The men, who were allegedly wearing police uniform, stopped four cars on a busy Kabul street. They looted the cars and took the passengers to a concealed location where they raped the women, including one who was pregnant. The victims were leaving a wedding party. 

Kabul Police Chief Gen. Zahir Zahir presented the arrested men to a press conference, claiming the arrests would allow him to sleep normally for the first time since the incident. 

Zahir said some of the men were trying to escape to Iran but were caught in the southeastern province Ghazni after three others, arrested in Kabul last week, tipped the police off about the rest of the gang.

The police chief said that the victims were both too fearful and ashamed of the attack to publicly lodge a complaint but that medics had confirmed the sexual assault took place. 

"It is beyond my imagination to understand how could these offenders keep torturing poor women for hours while keeping their male relatives bound," he said.

Kabulites have complained that street crime been increasing in the capital and surrounding districts but this incident is still considered highly unusual. 

Police sources told the Anadolu Agency that the arrested men were members of a larger gang responsible for numerous robberies.

A Facebook campaign page has gained nearly 3,000 supporters in its calling for the perpetrators to be executed, claiming the punishment would provide the victims with justice and act as a deterrent. 

www.aa.com.tr/en