Saturday, January 26, 2008

UN, of all people, urges review of journo's death sentence for blasphemy in Afghanistan

Note what he has been sentenced to death for: "The article allegedly questioned why men are allowed to have four spouses in Islam while women are denied the same right." An update on this story. "UN urges review of journalist’s death sentence," from Deutsche Presse Agentur (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):

KABUL: The death sentence handed down to a reporter in Afghanistan has prompted the United Nations and several press freedom organisations to call on the Afghan government to intervene in the case.

Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, 23, a journalist for the daily Janan-e-Naw, and a student of Balkh University, was detained in October for downloading from the Internet and distributing to classmates an article written by an Iranian scholar that contained anti-Islamic sentiments.

The article allegedly questioned why men are allowed to have four spouses in Islam while women are denied the same right.

On Tuesday Kambakhsh was presented before a court of three judges in northern Mazar-e-Sharif and handed the death penalty in a closed session without any legal counsel.

The Afghan Independent Journalists Association was outraged that no lawyer, journalist, or human rights representatives were permitted entry to the court during Kambakhsh’s trail.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Thursday issued a statement saying the case is a “possible misuse of the judicial process” that does not “serve the cause of justice.”...

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