Mick Hartley

A short report from BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville in Afghanistan on the stoning to death by the Taliban of a couple accused of adultery. They'd eloped to Pakistan, but were lured back with the promise that they wouldn't be harmed. There's a video of their grim fate, only now come to light though this happened some five months ago. Most of it is too graphic to show:

The video begins with Siddqa, a 25-year-old woman, standing waist-deep in a hole in the ground.

She is entirely hidden in a blue burka. Hundreds of men from the village are gathered as two mullahs pass sentence. As Taliban fighters look on, the sentence is passed and she is found guilty of adultery.

The stoning lasts two minutes. Hundreds of rocks – some larger than a man's fist – are thrown at her head and body. She tries to crawl out of the hole, but is beaten back by the stones. A boulder is then thrown at her head, her burka is soaked in blood, and she collapses inside the hole.

Incredibly Siddqa was still alive. The mullahs are heard saying she should be left alone. But a Taliban fighter steps forward with a rifle and she is shot three times.

Then her lover, Khayyam, is brought to the crowd. His hands are tied behind his back. Before he is blindfolded he looks into the mobile phone camera. He appears defiant.

The attack on him is even more ferocious. His body, lying face down, jerks as the rocks meet their target. He is heard to be crying, but is soon silent.

A Taliban spokesman is unrepentant:

"Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Koran, and that it is Islamic law.

"There are people who call it inhuman – but in doing so they insult the Prophet. They want to bring foreign thinking to this country."