'Barbaric' Taliban chops-off ears and nose of Afghan man for casting vote

Kabul, Aug. 31 (ANI): The Afghanistan Taliban slashed off a man's ears and nose for defying their order and casting his vote in the country's presidential elections.

Lal Mohammed, 40, was on his way to the polling station on August 20 when he was held by Taliban militants, beaten brutally, and then had his nose and ears slashed off.

"I was stopped by three men with AK-47 rifles and bandoliers of ammunition, who did not hide their faces and identified themselves as Talibs. When they found electoral registration papers in my pocket, they began beating me.

"Then one man sat on top of my chest and got out a knife and I began to feel terrible pain when he slit my nose. I was passing out, but another man was still using knives and there was more pain, I could feel blood all over my face. I thought it was better to die," The Independent quoted Mohammed, as saying.

To make matters worse, the farmer has not received any serious medical treatment for three days because one of the main hospitals in the Afghan capital said it had no room to keep him due to chronic overcrowding.

"The journey on the donkey was very hard, I did not think I would survive that, the road was bad and my face was really hurting. I was very happy when I got to the hospital. But they said they had no beds and I was told to come back in a few days,"

Mohammed's fate explains why so many people throughout the country didn't vote.

Eminent Afghan and international figures had encouraged citizens to defy the Taliban and vote in the elections. Yet, the authorities' apathy in Mohammed's case doesn't seem very reassuring to voters.

One of Mohammed's friend said: "All the foreigners, people like Karzai, said we should go out and vote. But look what happened to Lal Mohammed. Will they look after him now? They have not given him medicine, we are having to gather food for him." (ANI)