Lifeline for Pervez: Afghan Senate withdraws demand for death sentence

In a dramatic volte-face, the Afghan Senate has withdrawn its confirmation of a death sentence on Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the student convicted of blasphemy for downloading a report on women’s rights from the internet.

I’m a bit tired at the moment but I needed to post if for no other reason that somebody might post it on a more popular site. I’m sure Boing Boing won’t mind me copying there post verbatim. The cause is worthy.

Authorities in Afghanistan have sentenced a 23-year-old journalism student to death for having downloaded and shared copies of a report criticizing the oppressive treatment of women in some Islamic societies. Snip from Wired News Threat Level blog:

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh (at right), who is a journalism student at Balkh University and a writer for Jahan-e Naw, was sentenced last October after downloading a report from a Farsi website that criticized Islamic fundamentalists who misrepresent statements in the Koran to justify the oppression of women. Kambaksh was arrested after someone filed a complaint against him. He is accused of blasphemy for distributing the report to other students and teachers at his school.

He was tried by a sharia court (which overseas Islamic religious law) and was not allowed legal representation, according to news reports. The Afghan Senate passed a motion this week supporting the sentence, according to the British newspaper The Independent.

Link.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF.org) has a statement on the case here, and a petition for Kambaksh’s release here.

Via Boing Boing

Life in Sderot:

“I am always scared. I can’t go jogging. Even the dog hasn’t had a proper walk in a while.”

Life in Gaza:

“The statistic I personally find unbearable,” he said, “is that 99.4 per cent of the children we studied suffer trauma. Once you look at the rates of exposure to trauma you see why: 99.2 per cent of their homes were bombarded; 97.5 per cent were exposed to tear gas; 96.6 per cent witnessed shootings; 95.8 per cent witnessed bombardment and funerals; almost a quarter saw family members injured or killed.”

via Lenin

- After weathering nearly five years of war, Baghdad residents thought they’d pretty much seen it all. But Friday morning, as muezzins were calling the faithful to prayer, the people here awoke to something certifiably new. For the first time in memory, snow fell across Baghdad.

Random graffiti never looked so pretty. The Scratchpad upgraded

Geo TV Ordered to Shutdown [Urdu]

The president said he had imposed the state of emergency to help fight Islamic militancy.

The main targets of his crackdown so far have been his most outspoken critics, including those in the judiciary and media.

Thousands of people have been arrested [none apparently militants], TV news stations taken off air, and judges [no qadis I believe] removed.

[ibid]

Ironic?