# Afghanistan:  Sharia Court Sentences Man to Death for using Internet



## Meridian (3 Feb 2008)

Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sentenced-to-death-afghan-who-dared-to-read-about-womens-rights-775972.html

 By Kim Sengupta
Thursday, 31 January 2008

A young man, a student of journalism, is sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet. The sentence is then upheld by the country's rulers. This is Afghanistan – not in Taliban times but six years after "liberation" and under the democratic rule of the West's ally Hamid Karzai.

The fate of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh has led to domestic and international protests, and deepening concern about erosion of civil liberties in Afghanistan. He was accused of blasphemy after he downloaded a report from a Farsi website which stated that Muslim fundamentalists who claimed the Koran justified the oppression of women had misrepresented the views of the prophet Mohamed.

Mr Kambaksh, 23, distributed the tract to fellow students and teachers at Balkh University with the aim, he said, of provoking a debate on the matter. But a complaint was made against him and he was arrested, tried by religious judges without – say his friends and family – being allowed legal representation and sentenced to death.

The Independent is launching a campaign today to secure justice for Mr Kambaksh. The UN, human rights groups, journalists' organisations and Western diplomats have urged Mr Karzai's government to intervene and free him. But the Afghan Senate passed a motion yesterday confirming the death sentence.

The MP who proposed the ruling condemning Mr Kambaksh was Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, a key ally of Mr Karzai. The Senate also attacked the international community for putting pressure on the Afghan government and urged Mr Karzai not to be influenced by outside un-Islamic views.

The case of Mr Kambaksh, who also worked a s reporter for the Jahan-i-Naw (New World) newspaper, is seen in Afghanistan as yet another chapter in the escalation in the confrontation between Afghanistan and the West.

It comes in the wake of Mr Karzai accusing the British of actually worsening the situation in Helmand province by their actions and his subsequent blocking of the appointment of Lord Ashdown as the UN envoy and expelling a British and an Irish diplomat.

Demonstrations, organised by clerics, against the alleged foreign interference have been held in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where Mr Kambaksh was arrested. Aminuddin Muzafari, the first secretary of the houses of parliament, said: "People should realise that as we are representatives of an Islamic country therefore we can never tolerate insults to reverences of Islamic religion."

At a gathering in Takhar province, Maulavi Ghulam Rabbani Rahmani, the heads of the Ulema council, said: "We want the government and the courts to execute the court verdict on Kambaksh as soon as possible." In Parwan province, another senior cleric, Maulavi Muhammad Asif, said: "This decision is for disrespecting the holy Koran and the government should enforce the decision before it came under more pressure from foreigners."

UK officials say they are particularly concerned about such draconian action being taken against a journalist. The Foreign Office and Department for International Development has donated large sums to the training of media workers in the country. The Government funds the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in the Helmand capital, Lashkar Gar.

Mr Kambaksh's brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, is also a journalist and has written articles for IWPR in which he accused senior public figures, including an MP, of atrocities, including murders. He said: "Of course we are all very worried about my brother. What has happened to him is very unjust. He has not committed blasphemy and he was not even allowed to have a legal defence. and what took place was a secret trial."

Qayoum Baabak, the editor of Jahan-i-Naw, said a senior prosecutor in Mazar-i-Sharif, Hafiz Khaliqyar, had warned journalists that they would be punished if they protested against the death sentence passed on Mr Kambaksh.

Jean MacKenzie, country director for IWPR, said: "We feel very strongly that this is designed to put pressure on Pervez's brother, Yaqub, who has done some of the hardest-hitting pieces outlining abuses by some very powerful commanders."

Rahimullah Samander, the president of the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association, said: "This is unfair, this is illegal. He just printed a copy of something and looked at it and read it. How can we believe in this 'democracy' if we can't even read, we can't even study? We are asking Mr Karzai to quash the death sentence before it is too late."

The circumstances surrounding the conviction of Mr Kambaksh are also being viewed as a further attempt to claw back the rights gained by women since the overthrow of the Taliban. The most prominent female MP, Malalai Joya, has been suspended after criticising her male colleagues.

Under the Afghan constitution, say legal experts, Mr Kambaksh has the right to appeal to the country's supreme court. Some senior clerics maintain, however, that since he has been convicted under religious laws, the supreme court should not bring secular interpretations to the case.

Mr Karzai has the right to intervene and pardon Mr Kambaksh. However, even if he is freed, it would be hard for the student to escape retribution in a country where fundamentalists and warlords are increasingly in the ascendancy.

How you can save Pervez

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh's imminent execution is an affront to civilised values. It is not, however, a foregone conclusion. If enough international pressure is brought to bear on President Karzai's government, his sentence may yet be overturned. Add your weight to the campaign by urging the Foreign Office to demand that his life be spared. Sign our e-petition at www.independent.co.uk/petition


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## Lumber (3 Feb 2008)

umm..... wow.

I'm curious really, this isn't a sarcastic question, do they really want foreign troops in their country supporting and defending their democracy? Or are many (I'm sure not all) of the politicos simply using the advantage of foreign power to attain their own personal political gains, and be damned the values that those foreign powers are trying to instill? i

Seriously, think back to a few years back to the Afghan who converted to Christianity form Islam. Under their law he was to be executed, and they were attempting to do just that. Um, hello? The majority of the troops that allowed for the creation of your "democratic" government and "democratic" system of law are Christians. Not that THAT should be a sole reason to alter their traditional values, but you would think that the government and "democratic" courts would have developed some level of tolerance, what with their being some many western, democratic "liberal" troops, aid workers, advisers, etc, everywhere. 

After WWII, and even to this day, when in Holland, Canadians are still treated with utmost thanks, respect, and gratitude for having liberated them from the tyranny of the Third Reich. Did we not aid in the liberation of Afghanistan from the Tyranny of the Taliban Regime?
I'm sure that many people there are genuinely, and extremely, thankful and appreciative of what NATO has done. Maybe, "maybe", it's simply 'crooked' politicians trying to take advantage of the situation. I don't know, I'm not expert. 

But after reading this article, you'd think that they [Afghans] would be more appreciative of the values of the countries who's soldiers lay down their lives to protect their fragile democracy and way of life.

My 2 cents.

/not-edited for lack of experience


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## Fusaki (3 Feb 2008)

> But after reading this article, you'd think that they [Afghans] would be more appreciative of the values of the countries who's soldiers lay down their lives to protect their fragile democracy and way of life.



People don't change overnight, man.

The reconstruction of Afghanistan is a long road and this is just a bump along the way. It's not like we put soldiers on the ground and one day the people of Afghanistan just wake up with 1st world values.

The government of Afghanistan is far cry from what we expect from our government here in Canada, but we have start somewhere...


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## sgf (3 Feb 2008)

killing this person is a bit more than a bump i would say.. I find it very interesting that Karzai's government actually voted this law in... so much for improving women rights


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## Rodahn (3 Feb 2008)

Meridian said:
			
		

> Under the Afghan constitution, say legal experts, Mr Kambaksh has the right to appeal to the country's supreme court. Some senior clerics maintain, however, that since he has been convicted under religious laws, the supreme court should not bring secular interpretations to the case.



The above section of the article states that the person was convicted under religious law, therefore, that would infer that the government didn't actually "vote" the law in. 

In many respects, I believe that the Afghan nation is still very much a tribal culture (and has been for eons), which is not about to change overnight.


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## CougarKing (3 Feb 2008)

I'm just curious- if the student in question had escaped  and run to one of the Western embassies in Kabul, could he claim asylum under the reason of extremist religious oppression, or would he just be treated as a mere criminal and returned to Afghan authorities simply because he is an Afghan citizen?  I know this scenario is a bit of a stretch.  :-\  

Still, I don't see it as different from the case of those North Korean refugees who flung themselves at the US and other Western embassies in mainland China, only to be removed and detained by PRC authorities, which is a case of both political oppression and survival.


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## RecDiver (4 Feb 2008)

23 yo Afghan sentenced to death for downloading and distributing women's rights report!!!!!

As expected the actual reason is being reported in a distorted way, However, in other coalition countries like Turkey, petitions are being signed to appeal to the Afghan govt to stop this nonsense and spare his life.

It is a shame that our hard earned tax dollars and resources are being spent in this land and we are doing nothing to prevent these kinds of medieval mentality and executions.

Links with limited info: I am sure more detailed and informed ones are out there....

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/01/22/afghan-journalist.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/23/afghanistan.journalist/index.html?eref=edition_asia


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## Col.Steiner (5 Feb 2008)

Afghan journalist faces execution ...for blasphemy against Islam.  He downloaded an article written by a fellow Afghan questioning the role of women and the Koran.  Is this the kind of government we should be defending with our troops?


http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=6d265264-e942-47e9-95e4-f60e2f7d1ef9

Journalist's death sentence shows Afghanistan has a long way to go
Freedom of speech and of the press are foreign notions to the war-torn country
HARRY STERLING, The Gazette
Published: Sunday, February 03
An Afghan university student, Pervez Kambaksh, faces the death penalty, accused of committing blasphemy against Islam.

While the charges themselves are alarming, the case also has serious implications not just for the young journalism student who faces execution but also for the fundamental human rights of all Afghan citizens, rights which Canada and other countries fighting in Afghanistan are attempting to defend.
Kambaksh, 23, was convicted of distributing an article from the Internet that allegedly insulted Islam.

Various international organizations, including the United Nations and Journalists without Borders, have criticized the sentence, describing it as unjustified and counter to fundamental international human rights.

According to Afghan authorities, Kambaksh downloaded an article written by a fellow Afghan living abroad. The article questioned the Quran and the role of women in Islam.

Kambaksh's family says he was convicted without the benefit of a lawyer, although the governor of Mazar province, where the trial took place, insisted the proceedings were completely legal and were being handled "with due process." The young man is a student at Balkh University and also works as a reporter for Jahan-e Naw (New World).

To compound Kambaksh's already perilous situation, the Afghan senate issued a statement supporting the death sentence signed by Upper House leader, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, a conservative ally of President Hamid Karzai.

The statement said it "strongly criticizes those domestic and international organizations that are pressuring Afghanistan's government and legal authorities when pursuing such people." The Taliban also has demanded "severe punishment" for Kambaksh, calling him the "new Salman Rushdie." For the death sentence to be carried out, Karzai would have to approve it.

The case has once again focussed attention on the issue of freedom of the press and freedom of speech in general in that violence-plagued land.

Despite all the lofty pronouncements about promoting democracy and basic human rights, it's obvious how such rights are interpreted by sectors of Afghan society is clearly at odds with prevailing practices in most Western nations.

In countries like Canada, the judiciary plays a very prominent role in safeguarding such rights. But in Afghanistan, the judiciary - like the senate - is highly conservative, prone to place limits on basic freedoms, especially if interpreted as un-Islamic. For example: Afghan television stations are banned from broadcasting programs from India because women dance with their bodies not totally covered.

Last autumn, an Afghan was charged with blasphemy for publishing an Afghan version of the Quran. Clerics denounced his version, calling for the death penalty.

TV stations are frequently raided for committing dubious offences. In one incident, a station was charged with presenting a government official in an unflattering way.

Such attitudes are not limited to the media.

One of Afghanistan's outspoken female members of parliament was banned from the Lower House because she criticized parliament for harbouring warlords and others linked to the devastation inflicted upon the population in the past.

Unfortunately, many within the Afghan population have little affinity for the type of pluralistic democratic practices and respect for fundamental human rights observed in most Western nations.

As the article circulated by Kambaksh suggested, many Afghan males continue to deny females the same kind of rights taken for granted in countries like Canada. Many totally oppose education for girls unless it's exclusively about the Quran.

It's not just the Taliban burning schools in Afghanistan. Schools have also been torched and teachers intimidated by local inhabitants. Last year, 147 students and teachers were murdered and 590 schools closed.

The plight of Kambaksh is simply the latest example of the extremely difficult and uneven progress being made in Afghanistan as that society attempts to absorb concepts regarding human rights that often clash with traditional patriarchal and religious practices in Afghanistan.

The fact such non-traditional concepts are being introduced at a time when different sectors of Afghan society are still competing for power, whether ethnic, religious or regional, only exacerbates the situation.

Those who've benefitted from the tradition-bound practices of the past - in which warlords, clerics, tribal leaders and regional power brokers were dominant forces, unaccustomed to criticism or opposition - do not welcome changes. They, along with drug traffickers and corrupt officials, have little in common with those promoting democratic, open societies in which freedom of speech and of the press are considered strengths, not dangerous foreign concepts.

What happens to Pervez Kambaksh in coming days is thus not just about freedom of the press. It's also very much about what kind of society Afghanistan is capable of becoming.

Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator.




© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008


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## vonGarvin (5 Feb 2008)

OberstSteiner said:
			
		

> Afghan journalist faces execution ...for blasphemy against Islam.  He downloaded an article written by a fellow Afghan questioning the role of women and the Koran.  Is this the kind of government we should be defending with our troops?


You're right.  What were we thinking, letting the Sand men run their own nation?  Hell, I mean we are SO SUPERIOR.  We have no death penalty!  We are so enlightened!  We have been "letting" our wimmin folk vote for what, 68 years now (in Qwebeck, anyway).  

:


Yes, they have a way to go, and I'm just guessing here but I feel that this journalist just may be shown the door instead.  That's just my guess.


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## Fusaki (5 Feb 2008)

This story is second hand, but as I write this I have my roommate reading it over for accuracy...

On TF 3-06 one of our Terps (Afghan interpreters) had invited my roommate and a couple other Canadian soldiers into his room in the compound we had occupied for tea. That was his own space and our boys considered it quite an honour to be invited in. Over tea, the conversation went something like this...

Cdn: (terp), this is awesome tea man, thanks!

Terp: Thank you, my wife showed me how to make it. She makes the best tea.

Cdn: You're a lucky guy.

Terp: One day I came home from work and she didn't have any tea ready for me, so I kicked her in the head.

Cdn: Holt crap, man, you cant do that!!

Terp: Yes I can, from then on she always had tea ready for me.

Cdn: No way dude, there is NO WAY you could do that in Canada.

Terp: Yes, yes yes!! Her father came to me after and said that it was good of me to keep her obedient.

Cdn: (shrugs shoulders) If I treated my wife like that I'd go to jail.

This Terp by all accounts was an awsome guy, and I believe he really does love his wife. Beating the crap out of her isn't a very modern way of expressing his love, but thats the society he grew up in and convincing him otherwise will take a very long time.

The culture of Afghanistan is nothing like our own. Its naive to think that they're going to adopt our standards overnight, within a within the month, or over the next few years. The best we can do is try and bring some sort of stability to that country so that hopefully they have the opportunity to get an education and join the rest of the world in the 21st century. We don't have the means to change their culture and impose our laws and its immoral for use to want to force ours on them. What we _can_ do is help provide an environment where they can grow.

In the short term it means accepting certain things that might be considered barbaric to some, but in the long term it means a lasting peace in that country and our mission accomplished.


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## Edward Campbell (5 Feb 2008)

Ruxted said, correctly in my view, that our military aim in Afghanistan, the _victory condition_ “will be achieved when the people of Afghanistan can make their own decisions in their own way, even when they decide on policies with which we disagree – always bearing in mind that Canada, and the world, cannot accept a country's decision to turn itself into a base for aggressive war. The victory conditions will be achieved when the Afghans can elect a government – even if it is a government which we do not much like. The victory conditions will be achieved when the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are able to contain insurgencies – home-grown and foreign.”

So long as the Afghans do not allow their country to be used as a base from which attacks might be launched against us, they ought to be free to run their own societies in their own ways. We may not like what they do or why or how they do it but it’s their country and they’re entitled to do what they will within it (subject to only a few conditions).

The issue, for us, is: what does *Responsibility to Protect* really mean and what do we have to do if it means that we ought not to tolerate this sort of thing? How many countries must we invade and conquer?

And who, by the way, is ‘we?’ Who pays the bills, in lives and treasure?


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## CougarKing (5 Feb 2008)

CougarDaddy said:
			
		

> I'm just curious- if the student in question had escaped  and run to one of the Western embassies in Kabul, could he claim asylum under the reason of extremist religious oppression, or would he just be treated as a mere criminal and returned to Afghan authorities simply because he is an Afghan citizen?  I know this scenario is a bit of a stretch.  :-\
> 
> Still, I don't see it as different from the case of those North Korean refugees who flung themselves at the US and other Western embassies in mainland China, only to be removed and detained by PRC authorities, which is a case of both political oppression and survival.



I guess no one took this other question of mine seriously. Oh well...still waiting for a response.


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## sgf (5 Feb 2008)

CougarDaddy said:
			
		

> I guess no one took this other question of mine seriously. Oh well...still waiting for a response.


i had thought those North Korean refugees entered a school in Shanghai, not an embassy. If this was so, the school doesnt have diplomacy status... if they had entered an embassy, things may have been different


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## tomahawk6 (5 Feb 2008)

Islam is a religion locked firmly in the middle ages. If Christianity had not evolved we would see similar articles about a christian that had violated some edict of the Church. As Christianity evolved so did western civilization. With regard to Islam there is no central figure that sets the rules so Islam is interpreted at the local level. Muslim's know their religious laws and the penalties for breaking those laws.
Karzai's government isnt strong enough to take on Islam so you will see cases like this. Iran has found 2 sisters guilty of adultry and will most likely be stoned. Just be glad you live in a modern society.


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## CougarKing (5 Feb 2008)

sgf said:
			
		

> i had thought those North Korean refugees entered a school in Shanghai, not an embassy. If this was so, the school doesnt have diplomacy status... if they had entered an embassy, things may have been different



But there have been more than one instance where some North Korean refugees had entered a foreign embassy or consulate, only to be dragged away by People's Armed Police (PAP) or municipal police officers. Some, however, have been successful in making it to sanctuary, as the below link/quote demonstrates:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071452/



> Few succeed at embassy dash
> The only way refugees in China have consistently managed to escape arrest and return to North Korea has been by making a dash for the safety of foreign embassies and consulates and international facilities outside the reach of Chinese police in Beijing and other major cities. Since a family of seven received asylum in the Beijing office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in June 2001, nearly 200 people have successfully used that route.



The above link may indeed be at least 4 years old, but I just wanted to emphasize how the North Korean refugee example may still be valid in this case when it comes to seeking sanctuary at foreign embassies, consulates or even at the offices of international organizations such as the UN's High Commission for Refugees.

However, this whole scenario is moot anyway as the Afghan student in question did not make it to any foreign consulate or embassy.


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