By Pam O'Toole

BBC News



The executions in Afghanistan ended a moratorium

The executions - announced on Monday - were the first confirmed in Afghanistan for three years.

Those executed had been found guilty of crimes such as murder, kidnapping, rape, adultery and armed robbery.

A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said the executions would be a lesson for those committing such crimes.

The executions in Kabul have proved controversial.

The Afghan government is doing what its laws dictate

Humayun Hamidzada, spokesman for Afghan president

Afghanistan executes 15

Moratorium broken

The chairman of Afghanistan's human rights organisation said human rights groups had called for the cases of the executed men to be re-examined, alleging shortcomings in the way they had been investigated.

The United Nations said it had been a staunch supporter of the moratorium on executions observed in Afghanistan over recent years.

But the spokesman for the Afghan President, Humayun Hamidzada, said Afghanistan had every right to carry out the death penalty.

"There was no understanding between the United Nations and the Afghan government about executions. The Afghan government is doing what its laws dictate," he said.

The executions were carried out at Kabul's Pul-e-Charkhi jail

"We of course respect the concerns raised by the international community, the UN and others, but you know capital punishment is not only practised in Afghanistan but in many many countries," Mr Hamidzada said.

"So what we do is what is best for our people... in light of our constitution."

Italian reaction

One of those executed was a man convicted of involvement in the murder of foreign journalists after the fall of the Taleban, including Grazia Cutuli of Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Sergio Romano of Corriere Della Sera said the Italian press reflected mixed feelings about his execution.

"For the time being of course, there is a certain amount of satisfaction, although there are doubts about the validity of the verdict," he said.

"The inquiries conducted by the Italians in Afghanistan and Rome proved that there were other people involved, who don't seem to have been taken into consideration."

Mr Romano said the family of the murdered Italian journalist said they would have appealed for mercy if they knew the executions were about to be carried out.

He added that the case is embarrassing in some ways for the Italian government, which is pushing, through the United Nations, for a moratorium on the death penalty.