Student Sentenced to Death After Downloading Report

[Black King]

From:http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/afghan-student.html

Afghan Student Sentenced to Death After Downloading Report
By Kim Zetter EmailFebruary 01, 2008 | 3:44:32 PMCategories: Censorship
Sayed_pervez_kambaksh_3 A 23-year-old student journalist in Afghanistan has been sentenced to death for downloading and distributing a report that is critical of the oppressive treatment of women in some Islamic societies.

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh (at right), who is a journalism student at Balkh University and a writer for Jahan-e Naw, was sentenced last October after downloading a report from a Farsi website that criticized Islamic fundamentalists who misrepresent statements in the Koran to justify the oppression of women. Kambaksh was arrested after someone filed a complaint against him. He is accused of blasphemy for distributing the report to other students and teachers at his school.

He was tried by a sharia court (which oversees Islamic religious law) and was not allowed legal representation, according to news reports. The Afghan Senate passed a motion this week supporting the sentence, according to the British newspaper The Independent.

Other journalists have been warned that they would be arrested if they protested in support of Kambaksh.

The Independent has launched a campaign to support Kambaksh, urging readers to pressure the UK Foreign Office to intervene with the Afghan government. The newspaper has posted a petition online for readers to fill out and submit.

 

[Karma]

that's outrageous! i really hope that UK Foreign office can do something to help this man.

 

[Rampage]

I am unfortunately not surprised in the least. IN many repressive Islamic regimes, education and information are the enemy. This is also borne out by the murder of professionals in these regimes. The easiest populace to control is one that is ignorant.

 

[Karma]

its barbaric just the same. i've often harped on the fact that treating women like 2nd class citizens (to put it mildly) is considered culturally acceptable there...and this just prooves har BARBARIC their society is. it harkens back to the middle ages and the dark ages where information and education were suppressed...only back then it was the Pope and the Catholic Church who were behaving barbaricly.

 

[Rampage]

One way to look at it is that Islam is about 700 -800 years behind in terms of its evolution. That doesn't give you much hope for the near future in terms of how it will be, but maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel in say, 700 years, lol.

 

[Osiris]

One way to look at it is that Islam is about 700 -800 years behind in terms of its evolution. That doesn't give you much hope for the near future in terms of how it will be, but maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel in say, 700 years, lol.

Cute.....

Around that time Muslims were doing "backwards" things like creating Algebra and pioneering zero....but heh, what do I know......

And for the record according to the same article, it did say that the Journalist was showing how the Quran was being misinterpreted, so if it was being misinterpreted, then that must mean the opposite of what the radical regimes is say true: The Quran doesn't teach that crap against women, but considering I have only read and studied the text and history in depth for over 6 years, I wouldn't believe a word I say.

 

[Rampage]

Around that time Muslims were doing "backwards" things like creating Algebra and pioneering zero....but heh, what do I know......

And when Muslims were doing those forward things, they were much more tolerant. But now, with some countries that seem to specialize in 80+% illiteracy, large pockets of Islam have degenerated into the same ignorance and that best resemble Christianity @ 700 years ago, and Islam was founded...about 700 years after Christianity. And in this case, the journalist is being put to death for pointing out the lie to these oppressive regimes, that their 'rules' do NOT jibe with the Quran. That type of enlightenment is the enemy, and many of these regimes punish the educated for educating.

I must say also, that you Osiris are indeed much more knowledgeable about the Quran and things concerning Islam than any of us. In that capacity, I find it a bit surprising that out of this discussion your problem is more with the characterization of repressive Islamic regimes or of the relative age of Islam vs Christianity rather than the perversion of your religion for the purpose of a close-minded few. I would invite any dialog at which you speak to Islamic extremism and its effect not only on world events but also on how Islam itself is viewed. You are definitely more qualified than I to speak to it.