The body of Farkhunda, 27, who was lynched by an angry mob in central Kabul, was carried to the graveyard by women amid crowds of men. PHOTO: AP
KABUL: An Afghan court on Wednesday sentenced four men to death for the public lynching in Kabul of a 27-year-old woman falsely accused of burning the Quran.
Judge Safiullah Mojaddidi, announcing the verdict in a case which sparked a public outcry, said Zainul Abiddin, Mohammad Yaqub, Mohammad Sharif and Abdul Bashir would be hanged.
On Sunday, the video of a mob killing the Afghan woman accused of burning pages from Quran was shown in court in the trial of nearly 50 people.
Read: Afghan court shows video of mob lynching woman in Kabul
The judge asked prosecutors on the second day of the trial to play footage, shot with mobile phone cameras, of a crowd kicking and beating the 27-year-old woman, named Farkhunda.
Read: Afghan mob lynches, burns woman to death in Kabul
A total of 49 men, including several police officers, are on trial in the killing.
Read: Afghans bury woman beaten to death by mob
The police are accused of standing by and allowing the mob to kill the woman in broad daylight.
The attack proved a polarising incident in Afghanistan.
Some say the killing was a defence of Islam. Many others were outraged at the viciousness of the attack, even before an investigation showed that Farkhunda had been falsely accused of desecrating the Quran.
Read: Afghan woman lynched over Quran-burning was innocent: minister
Several protests against violence against women sprang up in Kabul, including one in the past week that re-enacted the attack.
Read: Afghan Taliban vow to punish those responsible for lynching woman
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