Najibullahhangedpublicly

ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: FormerAfghan president Najibullah wasexecuted publicly by the Talibanmilitia soon after they took overthe capital today, reports fromKabul said.

The Taliban justified the hang-ing of Najibulla condemning him asa communist "murderer."

A senior Taliban official saidNajibullah was "unanimously" sen-tenced to death by religious schol-ars and the Taliban's central coun-cil of Taliban for "violating" therights of Afghan people.

"Najibullah was a communist, hewas murderer," said the officialspeaking from the Taliban head-quarters in Kandahar.

The 50-year-old former presidentwas hanged in a street near theUnited Nations compound in Kabulwhere he had sought sanctuary forthe past four years, witnesses said.It was one of the first acts of theTaliban after taking the Afghancapital in the early hours of Friday.

Najibullah headed a communistregime in Afghanistan from 1986 to

April 1992 and was in control whenthe Soviet army invaded. His gov-ernment collapsed after a civil warled by mujahideen groups whohave now been swept aside by theTaliban.

As chief of the "notorious Khad,"the former Afghan secret police,Najibullah was responsible for thekillings of many Afghans, Talibanspokesman said.

The special UN envoy toAfghanistan, Norbert Holl, said inIslamabad that he deplored theabduction and execution of formerAfghan president and his brother.

Expressing his "dismay" over thehanging and the violation of UNpremises, Holl said in a statementthat Najibullah made a "consider-able contribution to the peacefultransfer of power" to the muja-hideen.AFP