KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Afghan judge Wednesday sentenced four men to death for the mob killing of a woman who had been falsely accused of burning a Quran, but he also released many of the 49 defendants in the case and delayed verdicts for 19 police officers who had been charged.
The mixed ruling seemed unlikely to satisfy any observers of the trial, much of which was televised live in Afghanistan. The March 19 killing of the 27-year-old woman, whose name was Farkhunda, in broad daylight at a mosque in central Kabul set off numerous protests.
The four men sentenced to death Wednesday included an amulet seller who had falsely accused Farkhunda of burning a Quran, after she accused him of what she considered un-Islamic practices like fortune telling, and an intelligence official who had boasted on Facebook of his involvement in the killing.
In addition to the four men sentenced to death, eight defendants were sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison. But 18 civilian defendants were acquitted, and the judge ordered the case against the 19 police officers to be separated from the other cases. It was unclear when a verdict would be reached in the police officers' case.
The officers, including the police chief of the district where the killing took place, were charged with dereliction of duty. They were accused of doing nothing to save Farkhunda from the assault, which continued in front of them for at least 15 minutes.
The killing galvanized women's rights activists here and received international notoriety, especially after it emerged that Farkhunda not only had been falsely accused of burning the Quran but also was a devout student of Islamic studies.
Omar Haidari, an activist in Kabul, called the judge's ruling "totally unacceptable," saying the 18 defendants who were acquitted should not have gone free.
"They were all part of the game and should be punished severely," he said. "At least they should be sentenced to life in prison for what they have done."
Ahmad Shakib reported from Kabul, and Rod Nordland from Rome.