کابل پرس

Hundreds of Afghan journalists and writers demonstrate in Kabul in support of journalist under death sentence

Reporters Without Borders — 2008-07-10T10:53:43Z

10 July 2008

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - Hundreds of Afghan journalists and writers took part in demonstrations on 8 July 2008 in 15 provinces to call for the release of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a young journalist under sentence of death. This exemplary show of solidarity came as Kambakhsh's appeal against his conviction has ground to a halt in Kabul and no date has been set for the next hearing.

"The appeal court should have quashed Kambakhsh's death sentence when a forensic doctor confirmed he was tortured by the security forces,"
Reporters Without Borders said. "But it was not done, and the authorities refuse to release him. A show of support from Afghans is now the key to preventing fundamentalists and certain government sectors from pressing ahead with their persecution of this journalist."

The demonstrations in support of Kambakhsh took place in 15 provinces.
Intellectuals and journalists signed petitions entitled: "we want justice and the immediate resolution of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh's case." The petitions were addressed to the provincial governors with the request that they be passed on to the Supreme Court.

Kambakhsh's brother, fellow-journalist Yaqub Ibrahimi, said the biggest protests took place in the provinces of Bamyan, Herat, Balkh, Jalalabad and Kunduz.

Despite the government's assurances, the appeal process has made very little progress. The Kabul appeal court is supposed to hear testimony from university students and teachers from the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where Kambakhsh, himself a student of journalism, was sentenced to death on a charge of blasphemy. But they have not yet been invited to Kabul.

The judges want to interrogate them about the questions which Kambakhsh reportedly asked during a course on the role of women in Islam. "How is it a crime to ask such questions?" Reporters Without Borders wonders.

A forensic doctor's report presented at the appeal court's hearing on 15 June confirmed that Kambakhsh was tortured by the security forces after his arrest.

In an interview for the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera", Kambakhsh said: "I am a political prisoner. The allegations against me are absurd, artificial (. . .) There are no murderers in my cell, just thieves who do not bother me. But I never go out into the corridors for fear that a pro-Taliban inmate will attack me with the aim of killing me, as already happened in Mazar-i-Sharif prison."

A student and reporter for "Jahan-e Naw" (New World), Kambakhsh was arrested in Mazar-i-Sharif on 22 October 2007 in an apparent reprisal against his brother, an investigative journalist.

A local court sentenced him to death on 22 January at the end of a trial held behind closed doors in which he was not defended by a lawyer. His family had contacted about 10 lawyers, but they refused to represent him for fear of reprisals.

Parwiz "in constant danger," says brother

Reporters Without Borders — 2008-03-11T16:41:59Z

(RSF/IFEX) - On 11 March 2008, Journalist Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi gave a news conference at Reporters Without Borders headquarters in Paris about the plight of his brother, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a fellow journalist who is under sentence of death in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

"I last saw my brother on 7 March in prison," Ibrahimi said. "Like any prisoner sentenced to death, he was very anxious. And he is in danger all the time because there are around 30 criminals with him in his cell. He should be transferred to a prison where he would be safe. That is why we have asked the government not to put him in a prison with terrorists in Kabul."

Contradicting what has been said in many reports, Ibrahimi insisted that his brother never downloaded, printed or distributed a controversial report about what the Koran has to say about women's rights.

"This was a plot by students close to the fundamentalists who added his name to this report," Ibrahimi said. "They then alerted the secret services and the clerics. It was all trumped up. Perwiz never distributed this document. This should be clear. I am the target behind all this because of my articles criticising the crimes of the warlord and their allies, the religious fundamentalists."

Ibrahimi added: "After 20 days, the letter requesting the transfer of my brother's case finally arrived in Mazar-i-Sharif. This allows us to hope that the appeal will be conducted in better circumstances, especially as we have found a lawyer who is ready to defend him."

Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard also spoke at the news conference, urging the Afghan authorities to do everything possible to ensure that Perwiz is freed as soon as possible.

"For the moment, the case must be transferred to Kabul, the charges must be reformulated, and both he and his family must be given protection," Ménard said. "In the long run, the legislation on blasphemy must be amended in order to avoid similar cases in the future."

Ménard added: "We have obtained assurances from the Afghan ambassadors to France and Spain that President Hamid Karzai would never sign a decree authorising Perwiz's execution. This is an important point."

A young student and journalist who writes for the newspaper "Jahan-e-Naw"
("New World"), Kambakhsh was sentenced to death for blasphemy by a Mazar-i-Sharif court on 22 January, at the end of a summary trial held behind closed doors at which he was not represented by a lawyer. He has been detained since 27 October 2007.

For further information, contact Vincent Brossel, RSF, 47, rue Vivienne,
75002 Paris, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 70, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: asia@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org

— from RSF (Reporters Without Borders), Paris

Photo of Parwiz Kambakhsh in Jail

Reporters Without Borders — 2008-02-07T03:25:12Z

Reporters Without Borders welcomes the undertakings given on 6 February 2008 by President Hamid Karzai as regards Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, the young journalist who has been sentenced to death on a trumped-up charge of distributing information that insulted Islam. Karzai told a delegation of Afghan journalists that they had no reason to worry about him.

"We want to believe that President Karzai really is determined to find a rapid solution to this appalling affair," the press freedom organisation said. "The death sentence passed on Kambakhsh by a court in Mazar-i-Sharif is unworthy of Afghanistan, whose constitution protects free expression. We call for the case to be quickly transferred to Kabul and for the conviction to be quashed."

Reporters Without Borders added: "This new abuse of the blasphemy law should prompt the Afghan authorities to find a way to provide better protection for freedom of expression, one that will be effective even when subjects as sensitive as religion are involved."

The delegation from the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association that met President Karzai on 6 February in Kabul briefed him about the case and asked him to intervene. Rahimullah Samandar, a member of the delegation, told Reporters Without Borders that Karzai gave them hope that Kambakhsh would be freed soon.

On 5 February, a presidential spokesman spoke of Karzai's concern about the case but said the courts should do their work.

— from IFEX/RSF