United Nations and rights bodies criticise jailing of journalist

The United Nations, Afghan human rights bodies and the national independent association of journalists have all criticised a two-year jail sentence given to the editor of a women's magazine for publishing anti-Islamic articles. Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly magazine Haqooq-e-Zan (Women’s Rights), was arrested on 1 October after complaints about his articles, in particular one which questioned Islamic punishments for crimes such as adultery. "We are closely following the case of journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab,” UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said on Monday in the capital, Kabul. ”The trial was not a fair trail, because there was no defence lawyer for Mohaqiq Nasab,” Ahmad Nader Nadery, spokesman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), said. The Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) said the trial contravened newly-formed laws on free speech. “His arrest, trial and jailing were against the law," the association’s president, Rahimullah Samander, told IRIN, adding the court case was against the country’s fragile democracy. Afghanistan’s Media Monitoring Commission has recommended the blasphemy charges be dropped. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also called for Mohaqiq's immediate release. The editor has three weeks in which to appeal against the verdict. While demanding the immediate release for Nasab, Azizurahman Rafie, managing director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF) warned, “If such cases - of arresting journalists without any evidence continue, the current process of democratisation in the country would come under question,” adding it showed up the weakness of the government in upholding freedom of speech in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a conservative Islamic country. Under a revised March 2004 media law signed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, content deemed insulting to Islam is banned. Penalties for contravening the law were left vaguely worded - leaving open the possibility of punishment in accordance with Shariah.