Three Afghans sentenced to death for killing Chinese
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-29 14:30

An Afghan court has sentenced to death three Afghans convicted of killing 11 Chinese road engineers in the northeastern province of Kunduz last June, a Supreme Court Judge said on Friday.

Eight accomplices were given prison terms of up to 15 years when the case concluded on Wednesday, said Judge Abdul Bari Bakhtyari.

The ringleader, General Mohammad Akbar, had been a commander in Kunduz for the Northern Alliance, a coalition of militias that helped the United States to topple the Taliban in late 2001 after it refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities.

The other two men sentenced to death with the former commander were identified as Noor Mohammad and Mohammad Asif.

"Noor Mohammad has pleaded guilty while the other two pleaded innocent," the judge said. "But we have enough evidence against the other two, including confessions from Noor Mohammad and from the father of General Akbar."

Those convicted can appeal and if the appeal is rejected only intervention by President Hamid Karzai could overturn the death sentence, Bakhtyari said.

While Akbar had been with the Northern Alliance he had also had contact with remnants of the Taliban, he said.

Taliban spokesmen have denied involvement, and there has been speculation the killings were linked to rivalry over construction contracts.

The engineers worked for a Chinese corporation on a road reconstruction project in Kunduz. The shooting as they slept in their tents was the bloodiest single act against foreigners in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.

More than 1,000 people, including aid workers, Afghan and foreign troops and militants, have been killed since the Taliban stepped up a campaign of violence a year ago. Most attacks have occurred in southern and eastern areas where the insurgents are most active and have traditionally found support.

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