Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Afghan editor arrested for 'unIslamic' articles
Press Trust of India
Kabul, October 4, 2005
The editor of an Afghan women's rights magazine has been arrested and thrown in Kabul jail after he was accused by a presidential adviser of publishing unIslamic material, officials said today.
Minority Shiite Muslim clerics in Kabul objected to two articles in the monthly Haqooq-i-Zan, or Women's Rights, edited by Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, that were critical of Islamic law. Police arrested Nasab on Saturday.
Late last week, the clerics approached Mohaiuddin Baluch, religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, who said he forwarded the magazines to the Supreme Court.
"I took the two magazines and spoke to Supreme Court chief, who wrote to attorney general to investigate," Baluch told The Associated Press.
He said one of articles was critical of the punishment under Shariah, or Islamic law, of 100 lashes for those guilty of adultery. Another article argued that giving up Islam was not a crime. Baluch said that was directly against Quran.
Mohammed Karim, an official at the secretariat of the Supreme Court, said that the attorney general had ordered Nasab's arrest, and that a group of clerics which advises the court was currently reviewing the case.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for the immediate release of Nasab _ who was visited by an official of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in Kabul's Central Jail on Monday.
"We are disturbed by this arrest, which reflects a recent pattern of deteriorating press freedom conditions in Afghanistan," it said in a statement.
© HT Media Ltd. 2005.