Journalist jailed for blasphemy, freed

An Afghan journalist jailed for publishing anti-Islamic articles has been freed following an appeal, a senior judge said on Thursday in the capital, Kabul. Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly magazine Haqooq-e-Zan (Women’s Rights), was arrested in October and sentenced to two years in jail after complaints about his articles, in particular one which questioned Islamic punishments for crimes such as adultery. “The local court in Kabul has freed Nasab following his apology, “said Mawlavi Fazal Ahmad Manawi, deputy for the Supreme Court, adding that Nasab has promised that he would not repeat such acts in future. During an appeal hearing on Wednesday, Nasab said he was a Muslim and not an apostate. He was then given a six-month suspended sentence, Manawai explained. Nasab’s jailing had been widely condemned by rights bodies. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had called for the reporter’s immediate release. The Afghanistan’s Media Monitoring Commission (AMMC) had earlier recommended the blasphemy charges be dropped. “This is a great victory for our journalists and for free speech in our beloved land,” said Rahimullah Samander, President of the Afghanistan Independent Journalists’ Association (AIJA). “The court has finally accepted that he was innocent,” Samander noted. Two years ago, two journalists were sentenced to death for blasphemy but managed to escape from jail and obtained asylum in the West. Afghanistan is a conservative Islamic country. Under a revised March 2004 media law signed by 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.