Student’s future is bleak

By Jean Mackenzie

KABUL, Afghanistan — The mood was almost festive as Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh entered the courtroom. After having spent over seven months in prison after having been sentenced to death for allegedly defaming Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, the crowd of observers seemed sure that his long ordeal would soon be over.

Kambakhsh, 24, a former journalism student at Baku University in Mazr-e-Sharif, was arrested in October 2007 and charged with distributing material he had obtained from the Internet that defamed Islam. In January, a three-judge panel imposed the death penalty.

The case has attracted international attention, as could be seen by the large turnout for the appeals court hearing. Representatives from foreign embassies, as well as members of human-rights organizations and members of both the Afghan and international press were in attendance.

Most expected the court to quickly commute the sentence, if not overturn the conviction outright. Much of the discussion before the proceeding centered on whether Kambakhsh would be able to remain in the country or forced to flee abroad due to the danger of reprisals by religious fundamentalists.

This was actually Kambakhsh’s third appearance before an appeals court.

During his first appearance on May 18, he claimed that he had been tortured while in prison, saying that his nose and left hand had been broken when officers from the National Security Directorate attempted to obtain his signature on a confession.

In addition, Kambakhsh told the court that he and his family have been unable to find a lawyer willing to represent him.

His brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, who writes for The Institute for War Peace Reporting, said lawyers either refuse to handle the case or sign on only to withdraw a few days later.

“We’ve gone through at least 10 lawyers,” Ibrahimi said.

The appeals court adjourned those proceedings, telling Kambakhsh he needed to obtain legal representation, and scheduled a new session for May 23.

But at the next hearing, Kambakhsh complained that he was too ill to proceed with the hearing. In addition, his newly found lawyer said he had not had adequate time to prepare a case.

Finally, at the June 1 hearing, it appeared that the case was finally heading toward its conclusion.

The session began with the court’s clerk reading the offending text that Kambakhsh allegedly downloaded and distributed.

That was followed by Kambakhsh reciting verses from the Quran intended to show that he remains an observant Muslim. He also told the court that he felt well enough to proceed with the hearing.

It was at that point that Kambakhsh’s new lawyer, Mohammad Afzal Nooristani, stunned the courtroom by introducing a motion asking for a medical examination to support Kambakhsh’s claim that he had been tortured.

After a brief adjournment, the judges granted the motion, ordering that Kambakhsh be examined by doctors to determine the validity of his claim and then report back to the court.

No date was set for the next hearing.

Stunning development

Those in the audience appeared stunned by the development.

“We expected that he would be released, but now I don’t know what will happen,” said Ibrahimi, Kambakhsh’s brother. “I think the court just wants to kill time.” But others attending the hearing were sanguine about the ruling.

“The judge is trying hard to ensure due process,” said one foreign diplomat who asked that his name not be used because he is not authorized on the subject. “And the torture allegations are the defense’s best chance” of winning Kambakhsh’s release.

But other members of the diplomatic community disagreed.

“Anyone leaving the court today would assume that the charges were correct,” said a diplomat, who asked that his name not be used “They should have been given the chance to read their defense statement.” And there may be more problems ahead for the case.

X Jean MacKenzie is the Afghanistan program director for The Institute for War Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.