KABUL — Video of a mob killing an Afghan woman accused of burning a copy of the Holy Qur'an pages was shown in court on Sunday in the trial of nearly 50 people over a lynching that prompted outrage and unprecedented protests in Kabul. The judge asked prosecutors on the second day of the trial to play footage, shot with mobile phone cameras, of a crowd kicking and beating the 27-year-old woman, named Farkhunda. A total of 49 men, including several police officers, are on trial in the killing. The police are accused of standing by and allowing the mob to kill the woman in broad daylight. The attack proved a polarizing incident in Afghanistan, a deeply conservative Muslim country. Some say the killing was a defense of Islam. Many others were outraged at the viciousness of the attack, even before an investigation showed that Farkhunda had been falsely accused of desecrating Islam's holy book. Several protests against violence against women sprang up in Kabul, including one in the past week that re-enacted the attack. It was unclear when a verdict would be handed down in the trial, which was originally expected to last two days. — Reuters
