Legal News

Death Sentence for Blasphemy Overturned; Journo Gets 20 Yrs

By Dan Slater

Colorado and Pennsylvania schools have their controversial t-shirts. Turkey has its scarves. In Afghanistan, the problem is literature about women’s rights.

Last year, Parwiz Kambakhsh ran afoul of Afghan authorities when he circulated an article about the rights of women under Islam after downloading it from the Internet. He was studying at the time in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where he also worked as a part-time journalist for local papers. Kambakhsh was tried on blasphemy charges and sentenced to death. His supporters say the previous trial was held in secret and without legal representation. After the conviction, in January, the judge told the New York Times that Kambakhsh was charged with insulting Muhammad by calling the prophet “a killer and adulterer.”

Today, an appeals court overturned Kambakhsh’s death sentence but failed to placate press-freedom advocates. The three-judge panel sentenced him instead to 20 years in prison. Here’s the L.A. Times story, and here’s a report from the AP.

“I don’t accept the court’s decision,” Kambakhsh told the AP as he left the courtroom after the ruling. “It is an unfair decision.”

The panel said he can appeal to the country’s Supreme Court.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).