Afghans Get Death In UN Worker Slaying

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 2-10-2004 | Stephen Graham

[blam]

Afghans Get Death in U.N. Worker Slaying

Tuesday February 10, 2004 10:46 PM

By STEPHEN GRAHAM

Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A Kabul court convicted two Afghans for the murder of a French U.N. staffer last year and sentenced them to death, officials said Tuesday.

The murder of 29-year-old Bettina Goislard, the first foreign U.N. worker to be killed in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, caused the evacuation of U.N. international staff from southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The court sentenced Zia Ahmad and Abdul Nabi to death for the Nov. 16 fatal shooting of Goislard, who was sitting in a U.N. vehicle at the time outside a bazaar in the eastern city of Ghazni, 80 miles south of the capital, Kabul.

Ghazni Gov. Haji Asadullah Khalid said the men, whose ages weren't known, had denied the crime and could appeal.

U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva confirmed the verdict, adding that the world body was seeking more information on the ruling.

Afghan authorities said the two motorcycle-riding gunmen had initially confessed to the crime, and to being members of the Taliban.

Khalid insisted there was no doubt about the men's guilt and that the Kabul courts were perfectly able to decide their fate.

``They killed Bettina in Afghanistan, and they are two Afghans,'' he said. ``In French law they don't have (the death penalty), but here we do.''

Summary executions of criminals - common under the Taliban - ceased after a U.S.-led invasion in late 2001 ousted the hard-line Islamic regime for harboring Osama bin Laden

Human rights advocates have called on the moderate government of President Hamid Karzai to block executions at least until Afghanistan's criminal justice system is overhauled.

Goislard's killing was one of several attacks on aid workers, government targets and foreign troops mainly in the south and east of the country.

Her death caused the suspension of refugee aid for Afghans returning home from neighboring Pakistan, though the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that assistance would resume next month.

At least 80 people died in violence last month alone, most of them Afghan civilians.

Goislard was buried in Kabul; she had told co-workers that she wished to be buried in Afghanistan if anything happened to her.

[AlaskaErik]

I'll bet the Froggies will start a drive to have the sentence overturned.

[68skylark]

As much as we (rightfully) mock the UN, many of their people in the field are real good folks who do a very tough job -- without the arms and armor that soldiers get. This UN worker, Ms. Goislard, sounds like one of the good people.