In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

The news report released under the headline “Taliban execute women in public” featured the breaking news of Monday, August 09, 2010, published and given a tremendous coverage by a number of mainstream media outlets.

To be frank, such mainstream media outlets have nothing to do with propagating the ground realities in Afghanistan, what they really have to do is to pin anything on Taliban that can defame them and tarnish the Mujahideen movement, no matter how much they have to overstep the bounds of media ethics.

Indeed, when we scrutinize we find that there are some technical flaws and lack of balance in what they have reported in the news about the stated women that we want to pinpoint before we confirm the truth of the news report.

“Taliban execute woman in public” this is to say (Qisas). And Qisas (execution) is an Islamic Sharia term meaning retaliatory punishment of a murderer, whereas the term does not refer to adultery. Take for example Ahmad, who killed Mahmood deliberately or unjustly, in such case, the Islamic jurisprudence carry out Qisas (execution).

Without the media weighing the scientific accuracy and determining the truth of the news report, it has used the term execution, some reports even said she was lashed 100 times and shot in her heart, the others said she was lashed 200 times and shot three times in the head, these reports are nothing more then mere propaganda and are against the professionalism and media ethics.

In the light of Islamic law, the stoning and lashings are carried out under certain cases, when a man and a woman are convicted of adulatory. When an unmarried male commits adultery with an unmarried female, they should be lashed. In case of a married male committing adultery with a married female, they should be stoned.

According to some media reports, saying that a 40-year-old pregnant widow was lashed and later shot dead in public is an unusual and preposterous event of its kind, a novelty in the history of the Islamic law which has never been heard of.

If, according to some news reports, she was a widow, then she was married who should have been stoned not lashed and shot, in accordance with Islamic Sharia. Let say, she was unmarried, according to Islamic law, she should have only been lashed 100 times rather than 200 times and she should not have been shot.

To put it bluntly, such courts as previously ordered to cut off Aisha’s nose and ears in Uruzgan province and this time decided that a 40-yea-old woman should be flogged and shot instead of stoning in Badghis province are rarity and can only be created and operated by the US and the mainstream media which is an intrinsic aspect of American imperialism and is being utilized to defame the Mujahideen.

However, the dignified media outlets are reminded to observe their code of neutrality and should not be bent on tarnishing their good name for American hegemony.

©  EsinIslam.Com