International organizations are urging to maintain freedom of the media in Afghanistan after an editor was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for an article he published.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Afghani President Hamid Karazai to release ‘Ali Muhaqiq Nasab, 50, editor of Huqouq-e-Zan (Women’s Rights).
Nasab published an item in the magazine which questioned some elements of the Islamic penal system. A group of Shi’ites complained that the article was blasphemous and the editor was subsequently detained and sentenced to jail on Saturday.
Nasab can still appeal against the court’s verdict.
RSF sent a message to Karazai calling the act “illegal.” Other media rights organizations have also expressed condemnation of the sentence.
RSF rates Afghanistan’s media freedom as a system with “noticeable problems.”