Afghanistan executes notorious killer

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan has carried out its first execution since the fall of the Taliban regime, putting a notorious former military commander to death with a bullet to the head, officials said Tuesday.

The April 20 execution remained secret for a week until it was revealed in a scathing report by Amnesty International, which accused powerful politicians of silencing Abdullah Shah before he could expose their human rights violations.

Jawed Ludin, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, said the Afghan leader signed Shah's death warrant reluctantly.

Karzai has commuted two prior death sentences, but was compelled by the heinous nature of the crime, Ludin said. Shah was convicted of killing one wife by pouring boiling water over her body and murdering his infant daughter by bashing her repeatedly against a wall.

"The president felt compelled by the need to ensure justice to the victims, especially in view of the nature of the crimes he committed," Ludin told the Associated Press. "He personally, obviously, was extremely reluctant, and regrets having to do this, but it was the nature of the case."

Shah was first convicted of more than 20 counts of murder in special court proceedings in October 2002.

Nine people testified against him at the trial, including another wife he tried to burn to death by using gasoline. The bodies of many of Shah's alleged victims were found in a well in Paghman district, east of the capital.

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