Afghan journalism student sentenced to death over alleged Islam insult says he was tortured

During an hour-long hearing, a judge read a transcript of the proceedings against 24-year-old Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh on Jan. 22 at a lower court in northern Balkh province.

It was the first time that full details have been revealed of the closed-door trial, which highlights the influence of conservative religious attitudes in post-Taliban Afghanistan's nascent justice system.

The transcript said Kambakhsh disrupted classes at Balkh University by asking questions about women's rights under Islam. It also said he distributed an article on the subject and wrote an additional three paragraphs for the piece.

The only people with him in the courtroom during the January hearing in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif were three judges, a court scribe and the prosecutor. Kambakhsh said he had no defense lawyer, and only three minutes to defend himself.

On Sunday, Kambakhsh spoke in the appeals court in Kabul, again without a defense lawyer.

"I'm Muslim, and I would never let myself write such an article. All these accusations are nonsense," he said during an emotional 15-minute statement.

"These accusations come from two professors and other students because of private hostilities against me. I was tortured by the intelligence service in Balkh province, and they made me confess that I wrote three paragraphs in this article."

According to the Balkh court proceedings, the prosecutor said Kambakhsh admitted writing three paragraphs of the article and had initialed them.

He also was accused of writing, "This is the real face of Islam ... the prophet Mohammad wrote verses of the holy Quran just for his own benefit."

Kambakhsh said Sunday he did not believe he needed a defense lawyer for his appeal because he had not done anything wrong, but when pressed by the judges on the matter he said he would like to have one.

The head of the three-judge panel, Abdul Salaam Qazizada, adjourned the trial until next Sunday to allow Kambakhsh to meet a lawyer and prepare a written defense.

Afghan media have flourished since the fall of the hard-line Taliban regime following a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Newspapers and TV and radio stations have opened across the country.

But journalists face violence for news stories that criticize government leaders, warlords and religious clerics or challenge their often authoritarian views.

Kambakhsh had been studying journalism at Balkh University in Mazar-i-Sharif and writing for local newspapers.

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