An Afghan appeals court has reduced the death sentences of four men found guilty in the mob killing of a woman falsely accused of burning pages of the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
The decision to reduce the sentences to between 10 and 20 years was made in a closed-door session Wednesday evening, Afghan media reported, citing court officials.
A lower court in May found the men guilty in a case that galvanized national protests and drew attention to the treatment of women in Afghanistan. The victim, a 27-year-old Koranic teacher who like many Afghans went by one name, Farkhunda, was beaten outside a shrine, run over by a car and eventually burned in a dry patch of the Kabul River as hundreds captured the grisly assault on cellphone cameras.