Afghan journalist sentenced to death for "Anti-Islam" paper

[mawilson 2,133]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan court on Tuesday sentenced a 23-year-old

journalism student to death for distributing a paper he printed off the Internet that

three judges said violated the tenets of Islam, an official said.

The three-judge panel sentenced Sayad Parwez Kambaksh to death for distributing

a paper that humiliated Islam, said Fazel Wahab, the chief judge in the northern

province of Balkh, where the trial took place. Wahab did not preside over the trial.

Kambaksh’s family and the head of a journalists group denounced the verdict and

said Kambaksh was not represented by a lawyer at trial. Members of a clerics council

had been pushing for Kambaksh to be punished.

The case now goes to the first of two appeals courts, Wahab said. Kambaksh, who

has been jailed since October, will remain in custody during appeal.

Wahab said he did not immediately have the details of the paper that Kambaksh

circulated, other than that it was against Islam. Kambaksh discussed the paper with

his teacher and classmates at Balkh University and several students complained to

the government, Wahab said.

Kambaksh’s brother, Yacoubi Brahimi, described Tuesday’s proceeding as a

“secret trial,” saying the family did not know it had been scheduled. Some have

accused Kambaksh of writing the paper in question, but Brahimi said that his

brother printed it off the Internet.

“He told them he didn’t write this article,” said Brahimi. “It was written by an Iranian.”

Wahab said that Kambaksh told the court that he could defend himself and did not

need a lawyer. But Kambaksh’s brother said his brother should have had an attorney.

Wahab said that only President Hamid Karzai can forgive Kambaksh because he had

confessed to violating the tenets of Islam.

Rhimullah Samandar, the head of the Kabul-based National Journalists Union of

Afghanistan, said Kambaksh had been sentenced to death under Article 130 of the

Afghan constitution. That article says that if no law exists regarding an issue than a

court’s decision should be in accord with Hanafi jurisprudence.

Hanafi is an orthodox school of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence followed in southern and

central Asia.

Samandar called for Karzai to intervene.

“We completely condemn this trial,” Samandar said. “It goes against the freedom of

speech and the freedom of the press.”

Clerics in Balkh and Kunduz province arranged a demonstration in the city of

Mazar-i-Sharif last week against Kambaksh, calling on the government not to release him.

Kambaksh also works as a journalist at the Jahan-i-Naw newspaper in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Source

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

hey, do the crime, do the time. off with his head!

[HAL 9000 96]

Holy cow lets invade Afghanistan!!!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Holy cow lets invade Afghanistan!!!

Wait...I thought they were our allies?

[Fandango 1,440]

This is sickening. Absolutely sickening.

[Steve'sGirl 0]

Very sad to see that so much intolerance towards basic human rights as we know it. Reminds me of the story a year or two ago when they sentenced this man to death who had converted to Christianity. Things like that remind you how lucky we are to live in societies where you have freedom of expression, etc.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Very sad to see that so much intolerance towards basic human rights as we know it. Reminds me of the story a year or two ago when they sentenced this man to death who had converted to Christianity. Things like that remind you how lucky we are to live in societies where you have freedom of expression, etc.

Sad but all too true. And happening at an increasing rate.