A 30-year-old woman was beheaded on Monday in the Lati in the Sar-e-Pul province of northern Afghanistan for violating the strict Islamic patriarchal codes of the region. Her crime? Leaving the house without her husband.
The woman was stabbed and ultimately decapitated after venturing out into the city to go shopping.
According to provincial governor spokesman Zabiullah Amani, the woman’s husband was in Iran at the time. The couple had no kids.
Afghan officials suspect that Taliban militants were behind the vicious execution.
“The Taliban, which occupies Lati, imposes fierce policies of discrimination against women which includes banning them speaking loudly in public and appearing in media,” reports The Independent. “Punishments have included public lashings and executions in football stadiums.”
No arrests have been made yet.