Afghan Student Journalist Faces Execution

A student journalist in Afghanistan is facing public execution for distributing an article on women's rights in what is believed to be the first example of the death sentence being applied for an internet-based breach of national law.

Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, 23, was found guilty of humiliating Islam on 22 January this year. His sentence was then commuted after the Afghan senate withdrew its approval of the verdict following international pressure, but his freedom has yet to be guaranteed with conservative Islamic clerics calling for the sentence to be upheld.

The sentence, handed down by a three-judge panel in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, answered calls for punishment from members of a cleric’s council, after Mr Kambakhsh distributed the article at Balkh University where he is studying journalism.

The material criticised the Koran’s attitude to women and was downloaded by Mr Kambakhsh from the internet.

The judicial process in Afghanistan been criticised by the young man’s family and by international observers. The UN has alledged that Mr Kambakhsh was refused legal representation during his trial and has suggested that the endorsement of the court’s decision by the upper house of parliament in Afghanistan was unconstitutional.

International coverage of the case prompted a retraction by the Senate, which has withdrawn its support for the guilty verdict. Nonetheless the death sentence still stands and will be appealed at the high court.

The situation has rapidly evolved into a political issue with international dimensions. A large number of global pressure groups have called for a pardon for Mr Kambakhsh, with over 63, 000 people adding their names to a petition created by The Independent, urging the Foreign Office to pressurise the Afghan government to prevent the execution.

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, has described the verdict as “a gross injustice.”

The international protests against the execution have exerted significant pressure on Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai. Louise Arbour, the UN’s leading human rights advocate, has written to Mr Karzai stating that principles of free speech are enshrined in his country’s constitution.

It has been suggested that Mr Kambakhsh’s punishment has been designed to intimidate his brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, who has written a number of articles for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).

Jean Mackenzie, country director for the IWPR, said: “We feel that what is happening with Parwez is a not very veiled threat against Yaqub Ibrahimi … who has done some of the hardest-hitting pieces outlining abuses by some very powerful commanders in Balkh and the other northern provinces."

Afghanistan’s constitution upholds the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which preserves principles of free speech. This code sits alongside an Islamic legal framework which outlaws criticism of the Prophet Mohammed.

Najib Manalai, an advisor within Afghanistan’s Culture Ministry, maintains that the two doctrines are reconcilable and that the justice system will ultimately spare Mr Kambakhsh’s life.

He said: "Every country has its own limits on freedom. In Afghanistan, our limitations on freedom of speech are within the framework of sharia law."

But he added: “One court has condemned him, but this is only the first step. We have three stages of justice. I am not worried for his life."

Should the Supreme Court uphold the sentence, Mr Kambakhsh could still be pardoned by the President. But given the international profile of the case, it has been privately hinted that Mr Karzai would prefer to see the verdict overturned at judicial level.

It has been further suggested that the sentence is a political manoeuvre orchestrated by Afghanistan’s northern warlords. The Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists has said that opponents of the President may have influenced the judicial process in an attempt to trap Mr Karzai between the demands of the mullahs and those of the international community

The President is said to be "concerned" about the case and is "watching the situation very closely."