Police say that Shirin Gul has confessed with her lover, Rahmatullah, and 18-year-old son Samiullah, to the murder of 27 men.

By: BBC

In her cell in Pul-e-Chakri jail, the grim Soviet-built prison on the edge of Kabul, Afghanistan's most notorious woman prisoner is awaiting trial.

Police say that Shirin Gul has confessed with her lover, Rahmatullah, and 18-year-old son Samiullah, to the murder of 27 men.

If convicted, she would be amongst the most prolific women serial killers.

Kabul where many of the murders took place

The body of Shirin Gul's 60-year-old first husband was recently found under the floor of her Jalalabad home.

Another body was recovered in Logar province, a crime for which her lover Rahmatullah has already been separately convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

All the murdered men had been strangled.

"She has admitted she killed them. We have the videotape of them all confessing," said Gen Mohammed Zahir Nahem, the senior investigator for Afghanistan's National Security Directorate.

"These people were professional killers. Shirin Gul has expressed no remorse and neither have the others."

Interviewed in her prison by BBC, however, Shirin Gul appeared to have withdrawn any confession. "Even if they hang me I will not admit these crimes," she said, weeping.

"I knew there were fresh bodies in the yard, but I did not see or do these things. I am a Pashtun woman and we cannot even speak to strangers who come to the house."

She said that she knew Rahmatullah had killed her first husband but supported him because her first husband had beaten her throughout their marriage. "Rahmatullah is a good man," she said. "We were a happy family." She said that she knew Rahmatullah was involved in killing taxi drivers but said "other men" were involved who were the main culprits.

"He is not the main man. I have not seen Rahmatullah kill anyone," she added, begging the BBC crew to pass a message of affection to him.

Most of the murdered men are believed to have been taxi drivers with no connection to their killers.

Police say that, in their confessions, the three accused admitted they had invited the men into their home with offers of tea and kebabs.

Such hospitality is not unusual, particularly amongst the Pashtun tribes of south and east Afghanistan.

But the food was drugged with powerful sedatives, large quantities of which were discovered during the police search.

Once incapacitated, the victim was killed.

Police excavation of the properties in Jalalabad and Kabul revealed rows of bodies at a depth of 1.5 metres, all with rope wound round their necks.

So far only five have been identified.