Death Sentence For Journalism Student Reduced to 20 Years By Afghan Court

As previously reported, in January journalism student Sayad Parwez Kambaksh was sentenced to death after a 5-minute trial by an Afghanistan court. He was charged with distributing an online article to which he had added comments, critical of the Quran's view of women. Yesterday's New York Times reported than an appeals court has now reduced the student's sentence to 20 years in prison. However international journalism organizations are severely criticizing the fairness of both the trial and the appellate proceedings. Kambaksh's lawyer plans an appeal to the Supreme Court and asked Afghan President Hamid Karzai "to intervene and to not let the corruption in the judicial system violate the rights of Afghan citizens."