Suspected Taliban Hang 70-Year-Old 'Spy'

(RFE/RL) KABUL, August 9, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Suspected Taliban forces have hanged a 70-year-old woman and her son on charges of spying for Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

The two were hanged on August 7 in Daigh, a village in the southern province of Helmand.

In comments to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, Helmand Province's deputy governor, Amir Mohammad Akhund, condemned the hanging, calling it "an un-Islamic act," "illegal and inhumane."

"I have to say with regret that these people get their orders from others. They are other people's slaves," he said.

However, a man who identified himself as a Taliban spokesman told RFA in Helmand Province that the former ruling militia had nothing to do with the hanging.

The Taliban have stepped up activities in Afghanistan's southern areas this year.