A week ago, Ghaus Zalmai, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Attorney General, was arrested trying to cross the border into Pakistan. Reuters reported last Monday that he was charged with publishing an unofficial translation of the Koran into Dari. Afghanistan's Chief Justice, Abdul Salam Azimi, said: "This is a plot against the religion of Islam, and no one will ever accept the book as the holy Koran." The Supreme Court ordered an investigation into the publication. The translation also sparked debate in Afghanistan's parliament.
UPDATE: The Nov. 12 Gulf Times reports that 1,000 university students demonstrated in Jalalabad on Sunday to demand the death penalty for Ghaus Zalmai. Zalmai is being interrogated after the Parliament barred him from leaving the country. Gulf Times reports: "A commission of clerics and prosecutors is examining the text, which does not include the original Arab verses and is said to differ on several issues, including homosexuality and adultery."
