Guess Who Is Calling For Review Of Afghan Journalist’s Death Sentence?
We told you about that journalism student in Afghanistan that was sentenced to die for insulting Islam the other day.
Well, guess who is calling for a review of the case?
The United nations…
I shit you not.
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.”
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders and the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting, which has offices in Kabul, believe the real intent by the court is to intimidate Kambakhsh’s older brother, Ibrahimi, who recently published an article implicating an Afghan legislator in a series of killings and kidnappings.
The Afghanistan Foreign Press Association, Afghan Association Blog Writer demanded the sentence be immediately overturned by President Hamid Karzai in the interests of freedom of expression.
The Afghan chapter of the South Asian Free Media Association said the court ruling was “unjust, unconstitutional and against Islamic, national and international norms.”
The ministry of information and culture released a letter saying that Kambakhsh was not a journalist and his case has nothing to do with the media. The statement also said the court’s decision to hand a death sentence on blasphemy charges was not final and the case would be handled “very carefully.”
(Gulf Times)
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LOL…The UN ought to stick to what it does best….and what would that be….er….uh….hmmmm….???
January 25th, 2008 at 5:29 pmSean Penn is no journalist either. Would they please hang him?
January 25th, 2008 at 7:19 pm