Man murders wife to ‘stop her working outside home’

A MAN in the western Afghan city of Herat has confessed to stabbing his wife to death to prevent her from taking a job outside the home, police said.

Mohammad Anwar, who was arrested in the provincial capital for the murder, said he killed his wife during an argument over whether she should work at private company in the city, Herat province police spokesman Noor Khan Nekzad said yesterday.

The woman’s relatives disputed the account, saying her husband was a drug addict who killed his wife because she refused to give him money.

The killing comes less than two weeks after a woman was beheaded in the same city for refusing alleged demands by her in-laws to engage in prostitution.

There were conflicting accounts of what led to the fight between Anwar and his wife Gulsom.

Gulsom’s brother, Ghulam Sarwar, said his sister’s husband had just returned from Iran and was pressing her to hand over money that she had earned weaving carpets.

Mr Sarwar said the two got into an argument and she fled the house. He followed her to her parents’ house and then went after her with a knife.