UN regrets execution of six people in Afghanistan

UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (APP): The United Nations human rights arm has expressed regret over the execution of six people in Afghanistan on Sunday, amid serious concerns about compliance with fair trial standards, and reports about the widespread use of torture and ill-treatment as a means of extracting confessions.
“We fear that there could be more executions in the near future,”
Spokesperson Rupert Colville of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said in Geneva.
International law requires that the death penalty may only be carried
out in line with a final judgement rendered by a competent court after a legal process with all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial, including legal representation and the right to appeal to a court of higher jurisdiction, he said.