The Chronicle of Higher Education yesterday reported that a journalism student at Afghanistan’s Balkh University was sentenced to death on Tuesday for distributing material found by a religious court to be insulting to Islam. The student, Sayad Parwez Kambaksh, apparently distributed an article he found on the Internet that commented on verses in the Quran about women. Radio Free Afghanistan says that the case now moves on to the first of two appeals. Journalist organizations in Afghanistan have called on President Hamid Karzai to pardon Kambaksh. The Institute for War and Peace Reporting claims that Kambakhsh was prosecuted in order to punish his brother, a reporter who has written pieces critical of very powerful commanders in Balkh and other northern provinces.
UPDATE: On Feb. 6, The Independent quoted Afghan ministerial aide, Najib Manalai, who said of Kambaksh: "I am not worried for his life. I'm sure Afghanistan's justice system will find the best way to avoid this sentence."
