Afghan Journalist sentenced to death for insulting Islam

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk The Taliban-style intimidation of Afghan newspapers came to the surface after a journalist was sentenced to death for distributing an article deemed to have "insulted Islam". Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh's crime was to have passed around a piece taken from a website questioning why Muslim women cannot have multiple husbands in the same way as their menfolk can legally take four wives. Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, 23, sentenced to death for 'insulting Islam' Mr Kaambakhsh, who works for "The New World", a newspaper in Afghanistan's northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, was prosecuted for downloading this article, apparently gleaned from an Iranian website, and distributing it to his friends. On Tuesday, a court found him guilty of "insulting Islam" and sentenced him to death.

Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh is a 23 year old Afghan journalist. His 'crime' was to download a document from an Islamic website, make a statement about how could we believe in this democracy if we can't read it or study it.

There was no lawyer representing this young man at his trial which was held in secret. Some think this is not about this man but about shutting up his brother who is also a journalist. The brother has written reports on atrocities committed by senior politicians in northern Afghanistan.

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