Afghan woman beheaded for refusing to be a prostitute

An Afghan woman was beheaded last week after she refused to be a prostitute despite her mother-in-law’s urging, the AFP reported.

The woman was identified as Mah Gul, 20, who reportedly lived in Herat province in western Afghanistan.  This was not the first time the mother-in-law tried to force her into prostitution, authorities said, according to the AFP report.

Four people were arrested in connection to the killing, the AFP reported. One suspect, Najibullah, reportedly said at 2 a.m. the mother-in-law alerted him that Gul was a prostitute and "with the help of her mother-in-law killed her with a knife."

The murder comes after reports of a 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot by Taliban as she headed home from school in the northwest Swat Valley.

Yousufzai said Friday that she is able to stand with help and to write, though she still shows signs of infection.

The girl is "well enough that she's agreed that she's happy, in fact keen, for us to share more clinical detail," said Dr. Dave Rosser, medical director at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The Associated Press contributed to this report