Issue 57 Vol III, February 15, 2008

M E D I A

Afghanistan: Campaign to save journalist picks up momentum

IT seems that American and NATO countries that support  the present ramshckle  government of president Hamid Karzai in Afghinstan  arwe trying the sae the life of jailed journalism student Sayed Pervez Kambaksh.

At a joint press conference with the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who arrived in Afghanistan on a previously unannounced visiton February 7, President Hamid Karzai vowed: "Justice will be done." Evidently the  President that  had not spoken publicly about the 23-year-old's plight, which sparked outrage around the world, was made to swear for justice.

Asked about the case by the correspondent of the Independent, Karzai said he had talked it over with the US and British officials, who have both expressed concerns over Kambaksh's fate. His family claim the case was heard in secret and he was not allowed a lawyer.

Neverheless, Karzai insisted it was a matter for his country's courts to deal with. He said: "This is an issue that our judicial system is handling. I can assure you, that at the end of the day, justice will be done in the right way."

Kambaksh was sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading an article about women's rights, which allegedly  poked fun at Islam by questioning why men are allowed four spouses, but women are not.

While the international campaign to free  Kambaksh grows, life in jail for the 23-year-old student isnothing but enduring hell day after day. He shares a cell meant for four people with 30 others at the prison in Balkh province where he has been held for more than three months. He has been attacked by Taliban prisoners who were told by officials that Kambaksh was guilty of blasphemy. His food was contaminated by guards. He has lost weight, and is traumatised. Meanwhile, about 70,000 people have signed a petition  sponsered the British daily newspaper The Independent's  to save  Kambaksh. Several leading oragainstations of journalists have protested against the sentece worldwide.

karazai’s  remarks suggest he is not planning to use his executive powers to intervene at this stage, but that he may yet pardon  Kambaksh if the sentence is upheld by Afghanistan's supreme court. Under Afghan law the President has to sign off on a death sentence before it can be carried out.

Zia Bumia, president of the Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists, said the courts had been hijacked by  Karzai's enemies to split him between the religious conservatives and his American backers.

Conservative clerics and tribal elders, however, have  urged the government  not to pardon Kambaksh . More than 100 religious and tribal leaders attended a rally in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, in support of the verdict. The province, in eastern Afghanistan, borders Pakistan's tribal belt, which nurtured many of Afghanistan's hardline mullahs.

If the verdict is upheld by the supreme court,  Karzai may be forced to choose between the had line mullahs, who passed the sentence, and the international community that opposes it. In the days to come, there is going to be more loud protest to get the innocent out of judicial murder.

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