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Court Affirms Blasphemy Sentence for Afghan Journalist
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By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL
Published: March 11, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Supreme Court has upheld a 20-year sentence for an Afghan university student journalist accused of blasphemy in a case that has alarmed media and rights organizations in Afghanistan and abroad. The student’s family and lawyers said Wednesday thay had only learned recently about the court decision, which was taken in secret on Feb. 12, and they denounced the procedure as illegal.
The student, Parwez Kambakhsh, from northern Afghanistan, was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to death for blasphemy after accusations that he wrote and distributed an article about the role of women in Islam. Mr. Kambakhsh has denied writing the article and said he downloaded it from the Internet. His family and lawyers say he has been denied a fair trial.
In 2008 an appeals court in Kabul commuted the death sentence to 20 years imprisonment, a decision that was upheld a tribunal of the Supreme Court last month.
“Unfortunately the Supreme Court has confirmed the 20-year prison sentence for my brother;” said Sayed Yaqoub Ibrahimi, the brother of Mr Kambaksh. “We did not expect it at all.”
The decision came to light only when the Attorney General’s office issued orders to the northern province of Balkh to enforce the decision, Afzal Nooristani, Kambakhsh’s defense lawyer, said in a telephone interview.
“I was notified of the issued number of Supreme Court decision by the reception of the Supreme Court,” he said. “I was not allowed to talk with the judges and officials, which is a complete violation of law,” he said.
Judges at the Supreme Court were reluctant to comment on the case, except to say that Ghulam Nabi Nawaie, the lead judge of the tribunal that made the decision, was in India for medical treatment.
Enayatullah Kamal, the deputy attorney general, confirmed that his office had been notified about the decision, but he said Mr Kambakhsh still had the right to appeal to the Supreme Court office to revise the tribunal’s decision.
The case has been watched keenly by the independent Afghan media who have increasingly felt pressure from government, political and religious circles. Journalists and news organizations flourished in the early post-Taliban years under President Hamid Karzai but have increasingly suffered from threats and attacks from the Taliban and pressure from government and religious extremists.
News of the tribunal’s decision came as another Afghan journalist, Javed Ahmad, who worked for Canadian Television, was gunned down in the center of the southern city of Kandahar Tuesday evening, the second killing of an Afghan journalist in southern Afghanistan in recent months. Abdul Samad Rohani, a journalist in Helmand province was shot dead last year, in a killing thought to be connected to his investigation of police involvement in the drugs trade. Three other well-established journalists have left Kandahar in recent months after receiving threats from Taliban insurgents over their coverage of events.
Another journalist, Ghows Zalmai, is facing a 20-year jail sentence for blasphemy after publishing a translation of the Koran into Dari that was disputed by hardline clerics, the New York Based Human Rights Watch said.
Western diplomats and human rights organizations have expressed concern that despite Mr Karzai’s assurances of press freedom and freedom of speech, journalists and civilians are under increasing threat from both insurgents and religious extremist clerics allied with the government. Mr Karzai, his critics say, is reluctant to move against the clerics in an election year.
Mr Kambakhsh’s brother and his lawyer, who have complained from the start that he has not been given a fair trial, said they were dismayed since they had seen the Supreme Court as their last resort for justice. Mr Kambakhsh was originally sentenced after a trial only lasting minutes in which he was not allowed to defend himself. In the appeals court, a key student witness retracted his statement, but was ignored.
“This is the tragic level of justice in Afghanistan today. It is just a make-believe system of justice and humanitarianism,” Mr Ibrahimi, the brother of Mr Kambakhsh, said in a statement. “The reality is that the Afghan government and judiciary, although supported by the U.S., the U.N., the E.U., and other democracies worldwide is morally bankrupt.”
Human Rights Watch called on the Afghan president to pardon Mr Kambakhsh. “The Supreme Court represented the last hope that Parwez Kambakhsh would receive a fair hearing, but once again justice was denied,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Kambakhsh has committed no crime.”
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By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL
Published: March 11, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Supreme Court has upheld a 20-year sentence for an Afghan university student journalist accused of blasphemy in a case that has alarmed media and rights organizations in Afghanistan and abroad. The student’s family and lawyers said Wednesday thay had only learned recently about the court decision, which was taken in secret on Feb. 12, and they denounced the procedure as illegal.
The student, Parwez Kambakhsh, from northern Afghanistan, was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to death for blasphemy after accusations that he wrote and distributed an article about the role of women in Islam. Mr. Kambakhsh has denied writing the article and said he downloaded it from the Internet. His family and lawyers say he has been denied a fair trial.
In 2008 an appeals court in Kabul commuted the death sentence to 20 years imprisonment, a decision that was upheld a tribunal of the Supreme Court last month.
“Unfortunately the Supreme Court has confirmed the 20-year prison sentence for my brother;” said Sayed Yaqoub Ibrahimi, the brother of Mr Kambaksh. “We did not expect it at all.”
The decision came to light only when the Attorney General’s office issued orders to the northern province of Balkh to enforce the decision, Afzal Nooristani, Kambakhsh’s defense lawyer, said in a telephone interview.
“I was notified of the issued number of Supreme Court decision by the reception of the Supreme Court,” he said. “I was not allowed to talk with the judges and officials, which is a complete violation of law,” he said.
Judges at the Supreme Court were reluctant to comment on the case, except to say that Ghulam Nabi Nawaie, the lead judge of the tribunal that made the decision, was in India for medical treatment.
Enayatullah Kamal, the deputy attorney general, confirmed that his office had been notified about the decision, but he said Mr Kambakhsh still had the right to appeal to the Supreme Court office to revise the tribunal’s decision.
The case has been watched keenly by the independent Afghan media who have increasingly felt pressure from government, political and religious circles. Journalists and news organizations flourished in the early post-Taliban years under President Hamid Karzai but have increasingly suffered from threats and attacks from the Taliban and pressure from government and religious extremists.
News of the tribunal’s decision came as another Afghan journalist, Javed Ahmad, who worked for Canadian Television, was gunned down in the center of the southern city of Kandahar Tuesday evening, the second killing of an Afghan journalist in southern Afghanistan in recent months. Abdul Samad Rohani, a journalist in Helmand province was shot dead last year, in a killing thought to be connected to his investigation of police involvement in the drugs trade. Three other well-established journalists have left Kandahar in recent months after receiving threats from Taliban insurgents over their coverage of events.
Another journalist, Ghows Zalmai, is facing a 20-year jail sentence for blasphemy after publishing a translation of the Koran into Dari that was disputed by hardline clerics, the New York Based Human Rights Watch said.
Western diplomats and human rights organizations have expressed concern that despite Mr Karzai’s assurances of press freedom and freedom of speech, journalists and civilians are under increasing threat from both insurgents and religious extremist clerics allied with the government. Mr Karzai, his critics say, is reluctant to move against the clerics in an election year.
Mr Kambakhsh’s brother and his lawyer, who have complained from the start that he has not been given a fair trial, said they were dismayed since they had seen the Supreme Court as their last resort for justice. Mr Kambakhsh was originally sentenced after a trial only lasting minutes in which he was not allowed to defend himself. In the appeals court, a key student witness retracted his statement, but was ignored.
“This is the tragic level of justice in Afghanistan today. It is just a make-believe system of justice and humanitarianism,” Mr Ibrahimi, the brother of Mr Kambakhsh, said in a statement. “The reality is that the Afghan government and judiciary, although supported by the U.S., the U.N., the E.U., and other democracies worldwide is morally bankrupt.”
Human Rights Watch called on the Afghan president to pardon Mr Kambakhsh. “The Supreme Court represented the last hope that Parwez Kambakhsh would receive a fair hearing, but once again justice was denied,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Kambakhsh has committed no crime.”
Based on this, I would support withdrawing at the earliest possible time, as long as we can ensure it does not become an Al Queda refuge again.
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