Writer Could Face Death Sentence
Freedom of expression is a dangerous concept in Afghanistan, and
could cost one man his life as well as his liberty.
By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul (ARR No. 196, 29-Nov-05)
The well-publicised case of a magazine editor jailed for blasphemy
could soon take a more ominous turn, with a state prosecutor
threatening to press for the death penalty. 

Mohaqeq Nasab, editor of Huquq-e-Zan, Women’s Rights, was found
guilty of blasphemy on October 22, and sentenced to two years at hard
labour. 

Nasab’s offence included publishing articles that, among other
things, questioned the Islamic precept that a women’s testimony in
court carries only half as much weight as a man’s, and the harsh
punishments meted out for adultery, theft and heresy.

His theoretical musings were deemed an insult to Islam, and he was
duly arrested, charged and sentenced. Now Zmarai Amiri, the
capital’s chief prosecutor, is asking a court of appeal to impose a
harsher punishment.

"The decision made by the lower court on Muhaqeq Nasab will in no way
satisfy the public prosecutor's office. The court has given him two
years imprisonment. Nasab must be punished more severely, up to and
including execution,” Amiri told IWPR. 

Nasab’s arrest has been condemned by organisations defending press
freedoms inside Afghanistan and also by international media rights
groups, such as Reporters Without Borders and the United States-based
Committee to Protect Journalists.

But those defending the embattled editor could soon find themselves
in legal difficulty, with the prosecutor threatening to arrest and
imprison anyone who springs to Nasab’s defence, including members
of the government’s own media commission.

“There are some people who speak irresponsibly through television
and newspapers, without knowing anything about Islamic law, the
Afghan constitution or Afghan law. We have decided to arrest and
interrogate these people, too,” said Amiri. 

According to the prosecutor, arrest warrants have already been
issued. On November 15, political analyst Azizullah Mamnun, who had
spoken publicly on Nasab’s behalf, was detained, questioned, and
later released.

If the prosecutor’s office makes good on its threats, it will have
to arrest, among others, the deputy minister of information and
culture, Sayed Ahmad Fazel Hussein Sancharaki, who serves as head of
the media commission in the minister’s absence.

"The media commission assessed all the articles published in the
magazine, and found nothing to support a charge of blasphemy,”
Sancharaki told IWPR.

According to the deputy minister, the arrest, trial and imprisonment
were all illegal, and Nasab should be released.

“In my opinion, Nasab’s arrest and trial, as well as his
detention in jail, are against the media law,” asserted Sancharaki.

Others threatened with arrest include Rahimullah Samander, head of
Afghanistan’s Independent Journalists’ Association and member of
the media commission. While Samander laughs off the threat of arrest
and imprisonment, he is deadly serious in his defence of Nasab.

“The media commission is satisfied that Mohaqeq is neither an
infidel nor an apostate. He is not trying to promote depravity. It is
all a misunderstanding,” said Samander. 

“We have asked President [Hamed] Karzai to let Nasab go. If he does
not do this, then freedom of the press is being trampled underfoot in
Afghanistan.”

One of the main points of contention is Nasab’s statement that
human beings have a right to question and interpret individual
strictures of Islamic law, or Sharia. 

“We believe that the main sources of Sharia are God’s scripture
and human wisdom,” he wrote in his magazine. 

Just as controversial is his assertion that there is no difference
between men and women as court witnesses. According to Islamic law,
the testimony of one man is equivalent to that of two women.

“The importance in men’s and women’s testimony is the same in
all fields and on all issues,” wrote Nasab.

But according to a fatwa or ruling issued in September by the highest
council dealing with legal matters, this statement could be
punishable by death. The Dar-ul-Ifta, the council of religious
scholars within the Supreme Court responsible for issuing fatwas on
Islamic issues, ruled that Nasab had contradicted verses of the
Koran, which is not allowed under Islam. 

The punishment for apostasy is clear, according to the council, whose
fatwa quoted one of the Hadiths, a collection of writings documenting
the life and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, saying, “Whoever
changes or denies any verses of the Holy Koran will legitimise their
own execution.”

But Muhammad Daud Noori, a lecturer in the department of law and
political science at Kabul University, says that Islam is not quite
as cut and dried as that on this issue.

“There is no limitation on freedom of expression in Islam. Every
Muslim has the right to express his opinion," Noori told IWPR.

“This kind of intolerance, where no one can give an opinion about
religion, is like Christianity in the Middle Ages. We have had a lot
of clerics, poets and intellectuals who have commented on Islamic
principles. Not only have they not been punished, they were admired
for their contributions,” said Noori.

According to Sancharaki, Nasab’s case is evidence of judicial
anarchy in Afghanistan, “If this continues, we will see other
similar cases, which will not benefit democracy or the media in this
country.”

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR reporter in Kabul.