Stoning not a part of new legal code in Afghanistan, Karzai says

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The Afghan government will not reintroduce stoning as punishment for adultery, despite its inclusion in a proposed legal code, President Hamid Karzai said.

"It is not correct. The Minister of Justice has rejected it," Karzai told Radio Free Afghanistan.

The policy of stoning those convicted of "moral crimes" was used in Afghanistan during the rule of the Islamist Taliban regime, in power from the mid-1990s to 2001, Radio Free Europe noted Friday.

Earlier this week, the New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the country to reject the punishment, calling on Karzai to "demonstrate at least a basic commitment to human rights, and reject this proposal."