11 policemen in Afghanistan get one year jail term over lynching of woman

Kabul, May 19: A court in Afghanistan awarded one year jail term to 11 policemen for failing to protect a woman, media reported.
Eleven Afghan policemen were on Tuesday sentenced to one year in prison by a court in Afghanistan, BBC reported.

The 28-year-old woman called Farkhunda was lynched after being accused of burning a copy of the Koran on March 19, 2015.

The verdict comes after four Afghan men were sentenced to death and eight others were handed a 16-year jail term earlier this month for the killing Farkhunda.

The lynching of incident led to widespread protests against the treatment of women.

"You are sentenced for negligence of duty to one year in prison," Judge Safiullah Mojaddidi told the 11 defendants, who included senior officers, while eight other policemen were found not guilty.

"This verdict is not final and the defendants have the right to appeal," the judge added.

Forty-nine people were arrested, including 19 police officers, some of whom were shown standing by and doing nothing to stop the mob in cellphone videos recorded by bystanders.

OneIndia News