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| Afghanistan |
| Death-Sentenced Afghan Journalist Freed |
| 2009-09-09 |
| [Quqnoos] An Afghan reporter sentenced to 20 years in jail for blasphemy was pardoned by President Hamid Karzai and freed, officials said Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, whose case triggered international calls for the Afghan government to protect freedom of expression, was released several weeks ago and left the country for fear of attacks. Relatives of Mr Kambaksh said he had already left Afghanistan as he had been granted asylum by a European country. Kambakhsh was sentenced to death at a closed-door court session in his hometown, Mazar-e-Sharif, in January last year for distributing an Internet article about the role of women among his friends. Reporters Without Borders, which cited Kambakhsh's lawyer, didn't identify the country where he is living. Amnesty International welcomed his release and called on the Afghan government to secure the freedom of two other writers accused of blasphemy. Ahmad Ghous Zelmay and Qari Mushtaq were sentenced to 20 years in jail last year for publishing a translation of the holy Koran without the accompanying Arabic script. |
| Posted by:Fred |