KABUL: An Afghan judge on Sunday sentenced seven men to death for the gang-rape of four women in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage, with angry protests outside the court and proceedings broadcast live on television.

The seven men, who stood in the dock dressed in brown traditional clothing, were found guilty of kidnapping and attacking the female members of a group that was driving home to Kabul from a wedding.

Police said a large group of men, some dressed in police uniforms, and with assault rifles, stopped a convoy of cars in which the women were traveling along with their families in the district of Paghman, just outside Kabul, last month.

They dragged four women out of the cars in the middle of the night and raped them in the field near the main road. One of them was pregnant. The victims were also beaten and their jewelry and mobile phones stolen. President Hamid Karzai had earlier called for the men to be hanged, and the death sentences were technically handed down for the crime of armed robbery rather than rape.

A gang rape by armed men is rare in Kabul. As noisy demonstrators outside the court demanded the death penalty, applause erupted inside after Kabul police chief Zahir Zahir called for the men to be hanged.

“We want them to be hanged in public, so that it will be a lesson for others,” he said. “We arrested them with police uniforms. They confessed to their crime within two hours of their arrest.” The judge said the seven had the right to appeal against their sentences.

Judge Safihullah Mujadidi in a summary trial, televised nationwide, convicted the men of armed robbery and sexual assault.

“Based on criminal law these individuals are sentenced to the severest punishment which is death sentence,” he said.

The men stood before him in a heavily guarded courtroom. Outside dozens of activists gathered demanding speedy justice to instill public confidence in law and order.

“This kind of gang rape is unprecedented in Kabul,” Kabul police chief Gen. Zahir earlier said in his testimony seeking summary punishment for the men.

The assault has led to such outpouring of rage that President Karzai told a delegation of women last week that the perpetrators would face the death penalty. The men can appeal Sunday’s verdict in a higher court. Karzai has to ratify the executions under Afghan law.

“If this act goes unpunished, the women of Afghanistan will continue to be victims,” said Uma Saeed, a rights activist. “This is really very significant moment, I would say, even maybe in the history of Karzai’s government.”