Afghan journalism student sentenced to 20 years for insulting Islam [1]

An Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for allegedly ’insulting Islam [1]’ had his conviction upheld but his sentence reduced to 20 years in prison by an Afghan central appeal court [October 21, 2008].

The prosecution alleged that Sayed Perwez Kambashkh, 24, downloaded from the internet and distributed an article by an Iranian writer questioning some of the tenets of Islam [1] relating [to] women’s rights. He has always denied the charges.

He is alleged to have added three paragraphs to the offending article himself, one of which read: “This is the real face of Islam [1]...the prophet Mohammad wrote verses of the Holy Quran just for his own benefit.”

At his appeal court trial today five professors of Balkh University, where the defendant was a student, claimed that Kambakhsh disrupted classes by asking “anti-Islam [1] and insulting questions.”

Kambakhsh was originally sentenced to death by a local court in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif following his arrest in October 2007.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4986956.ece [2]