November 12, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 13, 1429

KABUL, Nov 11: More than 100 convicted murderers, rapists and kidnappers were on death row in Afghanistan awaiting President Hamid Karzai to sign the orders for their execution, a senior judge said on Tuesday.

Kidnapping, rape and killing have sharply increased in recent years in Afghanistan where the Taliban, ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001, carried out public executions for similar acts.

Five people have been executed since Saturday after Mr Karzai approved the sentences following repeated appeals from many ordinary Afghans to mete out the punishment as enshrined in the country’s constitution and ordered by Islam.

“We have 125 people who have been sentenced by various courts to the death penalty and are to be executed after Karzai’s approval,” said a senior Supreme Court judge who declined to be named.

An official at the presidential palace confirmed that lists of the people on the death row had been sent to the president for approval.—Reuters