** This country has not changed in the least for ever . Why should we continue to try and get then to do things diferently**
Justice, Free Speech Still Lacking In Afghanistan
By: Our Opinion
Posted: 2/7/08
In the war in Afghanistan, one of the many fronts in the “War on Terror,” America’s goal is two-fold.
The first aim is to find and destroy the Taliban insurgency which, while in power, gave safe haven to those who wish to do harm to America.
The second goal is to spread the notion of peace and justice under democratic law to the Middle East, so that evil cannot take root once more. Mission accomplished? Well actually, no.
On Jan. 23, Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, a 23-year-old reporter, was sentenced to death for blasphemy for allegedly questioning the prophet Muhammad’s stance on women’s rights.
Though the sentence of death, likely by firing squad, is terrible for the supposed crime, the method by which Kaambakhsh was found guilty, hardly a method at all really - was worse.
In a sham trial akin to the days of the Supreme Soviet, Kaambakhsh was tried in closed court without the benefit of appropriate time to prepare a defense or the help of a lawyer.
He insists that his name was unknowingly added to the publication and that he had no part in its creation.
The court that condemned him insists he confessed to the crime and further suggested Kaambakhsh will still get three challenges to his sentence, as though three appeals would guarantee the court’s nonchalance in trying the young journalist could be easily mitigated with what will hardly be a thorough review of fact.
All the while, journalists siding with Kaambakhsh are under threat of arrest. Conservative clerics are celebrating the idea of a bullet-laden death for the traitor of Islam.
The upper-house of the Afghan government has officially supported the decision.
President Hamid Karzai has expressed concern, but will sit on his hands like a chess player agonizing over his next move, afraid of touching the wrong piece, until the court process plays out.
But while Karzai attempts to appease the hard-liners in his country, Kaambakhsh waits, wondering how many days are left in his life.
Whether or not Karzai is just playing politics by allowing the court process to have its say, the international community overall is looking at Afghanistan with worry and scorn, hoping they have not built up a government which kills so casually, but knowledgeable of the fact that in recent years two journalists only narrowly escaped the firing squad by breaking out of jail.
In Afghanistan, blasphemy is a crime.
Its status as such is also backed by what appears to be popular sentiment and the international community has no rightful recourse to change it.
But the execution of a young man who can’t even be proven to have placed pen to paper in this case is a far more sinister act.
This is what the international community should try to change - and is what Karzai would do well to avoid