Afghan Cops Catch Man Who Helped Cut Off Teen's Nose

Afghan police have captured one of the men who allegedly sliced off the ears and nose of a teenage Afghan girl. That girl, now-19-year-old Bibi Aisha, became the maimed face of Taliban oppression when Newsweek ran a story on her this summer (summarized here.) Police have now arrested her father-in-law, Sulaiman, on charges related to her maiming, sources tell the Daily Beast. They’re still hunting her husband and his brother.

But one senior police officer says none of them are likely to be punished by Afghanistan’s justice system. “One needs money and influence to win cases in the courts,” he says. “The father of the girl is lacking both.” The group Women for Afghan Women is working to convince the attorney general to try the case in Kabul, where they think they have a better shot at a fair trial. (More Bibi Aisha stories.)