Freedom for Parvez Kaambakhsh

„It was about four o’clock in the after noon when I was brought into a room where three judges and a public prosecutor sat behind their tables. There was no one else present”, reported Kaambakhsh to reporters of the „Institute for War and Peace Reporting”, for which his brother Yaqub Ibrahimi works. „They just gave me a piece of paper, on which stood that I was condemned to death. Then armed guards brought me back to the prison.”

Parvez Kaambakhsh, who is studying journalism at the University of Balkh and who works for the north Afghan newspaper Jahan-e Naw, is accused of downloading and distributing a text from the internet which criticises the position of women in Islam. The 23-year old denies this energetically and human rights workers throughout the world do not doubt his innocence. For the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) this is a shocking case of distributing the blame inside the family. The death sentence is intended to silence his brother. He is one of the sharpest critics of the warlords, who are gaining increasing power in Afghanistan . Because of his courageous reports Ibrahim and his family are being harried by the secret service and threatened with death by the warlords and the Taliban. As a last resort his younger brother has been sentenced with the highest penalty in the arranged and illegal court-case without any confession, without legal representation and against all international and national principles of justice.

Appeal – without any chance of success?

Kaambakhsh is now pinning all hopes on his appeal, which was applied for in May 2008 – and on help from the international community. It is already clear that the Supreme Court in Kabul will not deal with the matter in either a rapid or just manner. It was only international observers who could move it to hand the dossier to a lawyer and to allow examination by forensic medical experts to check Parvez’ charge that he was tortured after his arrest on 27th October 2007. On 15th June the judges attempted without success to bring Kaambakhsh to admit his guilt and adjourned the case once more. „We have time!”

Please take action!

Help to save the life of Kaambakhsh. Take part in our E-Mail campaign (see below) for his release. Carrying out the death penalty would be the end of freedom of thought and of the press in Afghanistan , a severe blow for democracy and a victory for Afghanistan ’s warlords. But they cannot continue 20 unhindered to murder, torture and abduct civilians. The warlords must finally be removed from their positions of power and be brought to court for their crimes!