http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4368704.stm
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Is fighting for the equality of women a blasphemy???
Sunday, 23 October 2005, 08:52 GMT 09:52 UK
Jail term for Afghan journalist
Ali Mohaqiq Nasab Nasab says he does not recognise the court
The editor of a women's rights magazine in Afghanistan has
been sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy.
The editor, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, was convicted after a court in
Kabul concluded that several articles in his magazine Huquq-e
Zan were anti-Islamic.
Correspondents say the case underlines the fragility of
journalistic freedom in post-Taleban Afghanistan.
It also highlights a struggle between religious moderates and
extremists over what form Islam should take.
Mr Nasab was arrested earlier this month after he published a
series of controversial articles.
hspacesrc He wrote what he had the right to write according
to Afghan law and press freedom and freedom of expressionsrc
Rahimullah Samande
Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association
One of them argued that giving up Islam was not a crime that
should be punished by death, as sanctioned by some
interpretations of Islamic Sharia law.
Other pieces criticised the practice of punishing adultery
with 100 lashes and argued that men and women should be
considered by Islamic law to be equals.
Clerics' ruling
The Ulema Council, a body of top Islamic clerics, reacted
strongly against the articles.
"The Ulema Council sent us a letter saying that he should be
punished so I sentenced him to two years' jail," Judge
Ansarullah Mawizada told the Associated Press.
Mr Nasab said that he didn't recognise the court and did not
accept its verdict.
The Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association has also
spoken out against the verdict, saying it was outside the
law.
"He wrote what he had the right to write according to Afghan
law and press freedom and freedom of expression," the
association's president, Rahimullah Samander, told AFP.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has
called for his immediate release.
The editor has three weeks in which to appeal against the
verdict.
In 2003, two journalists were arrested in Afghanistan over
charges of defaming Islam.
They were later released on the orders of President Hamid
Karzai.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4368704.stm
Among Muslim-majority countries, Pakistan has the harshest
anti-blasphemy law. In 1982, President Zia ul-Haq introduced
Section 295B to the Pakistani Code of Criminal Procedure
punishing "defiling the Holy Qu'ran" with life imprisonment.
In 1986, Section 295C was introduced, mandating the death
penalty for "use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy
Prophet".
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