Rice joins calls to save student sentenced to death

Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh, an Afghan student journalist, was sentenced to death for downloading material on women's rights from the internet. An Afghanistan Islamic court deemed his action "blasphemous" to Islam. The story has vanished from the American press. It is still very much in the news in the UK where The Independent reports that our Secretary of State has publicly promised to talk to the Afghan president about the matter. Why is this not news in the United States?

Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State, promised yesterday to raise his case personally with the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, which would significantly raise the international pressure for his release. Rice, who was in London for talks with Gordon Brown and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, on the West's Afghanistan strategy said: "I do think that the Afghans understand that there are some international norms that need to be respected. Of course, one has national laws and they're national laws that are in accordance with traditions and religious practice. But there are international norms, and I'll certainly talk to President Karzai about this case."

Kambaksh's position remains as precarious as ever because Karzai is under considerable pressure from inside Afghanistan, where the limits of free speech are defined within Sharia law. Under Afghanistan's new constitution, the President is able to pardon condemned prisoners if their sentence is upheld by the Supreme Court. But privately, government sources have hinted that President Karzai would prefer to see the verdict overruled by an appeal court before it reaches his office. Life in jail is hell, day after day . . . [Read More]

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Tags: Afghanistan, Condoleezza Rice, death sentence, free speech, journalism, Sharia law To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!