A young woman has been found dead one day before she was due to be executed by stoning, local media has reported.
The 24-year-old was sentenced to death by stoning last week after the Taliban caught her out and about with a man who was not her family member.
New Taliban rules stipulate that women seeking to travel long distances are not allowed on road transport unless they are accompanied by a close male relative.
According to local sources who preferred not to be named due to security reasons, the man is called Sirajuddin, from Sirzaar village of Dolina district and the woman, Salima, is from Berinji village in the same district.
Sirajuddin and Salima allegedly ran away from their homes on October 10 to get married, Rukshana media has reported.
However, they were soon arrested by Taliban forces who shot and killed Sirajuddin and captured Salima.
Salima was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, which was due to take place on Friday, October 14.
Three local sources confirmed to Rukhshana Media that Salima was found dead in an apparent hanging on Thursday and was buried the next day.
Abolfida Ghor Badri, the Taliban’s spokesperson for Ghor’s police chief, confirmed Sirajuddin’s death by the Taliban forces to Rukshana Media.
“The security forces tried to prevent Sirajuddin from escaping at night, but he was hit mistakenly because it was dark", he said in a Whatsapp message to Rukshana.
But Badri denied reports that Salima was to be executed by stoning.
One source said that she was released on bail Wednesday and then went to stay at her brother’s house, which is where she was found dead the next day.
In 2015, alarming footage of a 19-year-old woman being stoned to death in a Taliban-controlled village went viral.
The woman “had been forced to marry against her will” and had fled with another man before being caught and sentenced to stoning for adultery, said CNN.
Iran has the world’s highest rate of execution by stoning and its employment of the practice came into force after the 1979 revolution.
Several women in the United Arab Emirates have been sentenced to death by stoning after being accused of adultery.
