Death for aid worker's kidnappers

Ms Cantoni was released after three weeks in captivity

Three Afghans found guilty of the high-profile kidnapping of an Italian aid worker, Clementina Cantoni, have been given 20 year prison sentences.

Two of them have also been sentenced to death for kidnapping and killing an Afghan businessman, Hafizullah Zadran.

The verdicts were handed down after a one-day trial in the capital, Kabul. The three have the right to appeal.

Ms Cantoni was released in June after being held for more than three weeks after armed men dragged her from a car.

Photographs

Ms Cantoni's abduction in Kabul led to street protests by Afghan widows that she worked with.

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Afghanistan

The court said the three-man gang was led by Temur Shah.

Italian newspapers have reported that Ms Cantoni identified Temur Shah from photographs shown to her by investigators.

The Afghan government had denied at the time that any concessions were made in order to secure Ms Cantoni's release.

But Italian newspapers had said that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been paid to the kidnappers

Ms Cantoni had been in Afghanistan since September 2003, in charge of a programme supporting more than 10,000 widows and their children.