Arrested journalists threatened with death penalty

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) has warned of an Islamization of the justice system in Afghanistan , which would endanger the freedom of the press and the democratisation of the country. „In the name of Islam journalists are being threatened with death penalties for crimes which in constitutional states would not even be punished with prison sentences”, reported the GfbV Asia expert, Ulrich Delius, on Wednesday. Within the space of only one month the threat of death penalties is for the second time hanging over journalists who are critical of the regime. The most recent case in the north Afghan town of Mazar-e-Sharif is particularly severe. There a member of the family of the renowned journalist Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is threatened with death because the reporter publicly criticised infringements of human rights by war-lords.

Ibrahimi, who reports for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) as correspondent for north Afghanistan , was interrogated by the secret service after several critical reports on war-lords and threatened with death. Since no crimes could be laid at his feet his brother, the student of journalism, Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, was arrested under a pretext on 27th October 2007. He is threatened with the death penalty on the grounds of distributing anti-Islamic literature. The student is protesting his innocence because the text, which was taken from the internet, was only afterwards associated with his name. Instead of bringing the case before a proper court the matter was brought before the Council of Religious Scholars of the province. There he is threatened with death by hanging for blasphemy.

In another case three people, among them the well-known journalist Ghaws Zalmai, are threatened with the death penalty, for translating the Koran into the local language of Dari. A fourth person involved has already been hanged. The execution was shown on the independent Afghan TV station Aryana TV following a demonstration of over 1000 students on 11th November for the execution of the four persons. The translation of the Koran is not permitted in the Moslem faith as this is seen as an interpretation of the original version.

Zalmai, who until recently was living in Great Britain in exile, last worked as spokesperson of the public prosecutor. He was responsible for the distribution of 6,000 copies of the Koran translation. „There was indeed wide disapproval of the translation among Islam scholars, but sentencing the four accused to the death penalty would be out of all proportion and would do harm to the image of Afghanistan”, said the letter of the GfbV to the Afghan president Hamid Karsai.

There is in the opinion of the GfbV no hope of a fair trial because after the appointment of the radical Islamist Sheik Haji Faizal Shinwari to the post of Supreme Judge in the year 2002 more than 300 of his followers have been appointed judges. Arbitrary behaviour and corruption are rife in the Afghan justice system.