AP: PUL-E CHARKHI, Afghanistan - The prison uniform Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh wears is emblazoned with crudely painted black scales of justice, but the young journalist insists on the eve of his appeal that he has yet to see justice done.
A court found Kambakhsh, 24, guilty on Jan. 22 of distributing an article that questioned the Muslim practice of polygamy. It handed him the maximum sentence on the charge of insulting Islam _ death. ...
The judges found him guilty of handing out a report he printed off the Internet to fellow journalism students. The article asked why under Islam men can have four wives but women cannot have multiple husbands.
Kambakhsh said the article accused Islam of violating women's rights, but he was hesitant to discuss details. He insisted he had no knowledge of it until government officials accused him.
The verdict sparked an international outcry, with a number of organizations demanding that the case be annulled and Kambakhsh set free.
A U.S. State Department spokesman expressed concern that Kambakhsh was sentenced to death for "basically practicing his profession."
Abdul Malik Kamawi, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said Kambakhsh's case will go before an appeals court in the capital on Sunday.
Bob Dietz, Asia program coordinator for the New York-based rights group Committee to Protect Journalists, welcomed the transfer of the case to Kabul and the defendant's access to legal counsel.
He said CPJ was concerned that Kambakhsh may have been targeted because his brother, Yaqub Ibrahimi, had written about human rights violations and local politics for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, an organization that trains Afghan journalists.
He hopes Kambakhsh will be acquitted in Sunday's appeal, but added "we fear for his safety in Afghanistan if he is given his freedom." ...
