The case of a tortured Afghan child bride whose treatment shocked the

The case of a tortured Afghan child bride whose treatment shocked the world has led to three members of her husband’s family being jailed for 10 years, an official said Saturday.

Sahar Gul, 15, who was burned and beaten and had her fingernails pulled out was found in the basement of her husband’s house last December in northeastern Baghlan province, where she had been locked in a toilet for six months.

A rights group, Women for Afghan Women which helped Gul in the court case, said it was not satisfied with the sentence.

Gul, whose case attracted widespread attention in Afghanistan and abroad, attended the court session in Kabul.

“When she first entered the court and saw her in-laws, she was afraid and shaking, but later she calmed down and asked for death penalty for her in-laws,” Safi said.

Gul’s husband and her brother in-law, also allegedly involved in torturing her, are still at large.

Violence and abuse against women continues to be a major problem in Afghanistan a decade after US-led troops brought down the notorious Taliban regime.

According to figures by British charity organisation Oxfam, 87 percent of Afghan women report having experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage.

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission logged 1,026 cases of violence against women in the second quarter of 2011 compared with 2,700 cases for the whole of 2010.

Source AFP