[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 3



AFGHANISTAN:

Death sentence meant to intimidate Afghan journalists


The international community may have been shocked when a court in northern
Afghanistan sentenced Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, a young journalism student,
to death for blasphemy.

But inside the country, analysts and media rights advocates were quick to
recognize that the sentence was probably handed down at the behest of
powerful local figures in retribution for articles written by his older
brother, The Institute for War & Peace Reporting reporter Sayed Yaqub
Ibrahimi, detailing human rights abuses in the north.

Kaambakhsh, who has been imprisoned since October, has steadfastly denied
committing the offense for which he was convicted.

Coerced confession

Kaambakhsh was accused of downloading an article from the Internet that
allegedly contained a critical commentary on the Quran. The authorities
allege that they have Kaambakhsh's signed confession, a document the young
reporter says he was coerced into signing.

"I was held in a small room which was very dirty," Kaambakhsh said. "I was
held in that room for eight days, and the security guys (members of the
National Directorate of Security) were constantly coming to see me. They
interrogated me several times a day, and told me they were going to hang
me. They told me to prepare myself for death.

"I had no contact with my family, and I was under a lot of psychological
pressure. On the eighth day, a security officer came with a piece of paper
in his hand. He told me to write that I had downloaded the document from
the Internet and that I had added several sentences to it. They told me
that if I wrote this, they would release me," he said.

Judge Khalilurahman Adli, who heads the public security branch of the
Balkh court that sentenced Kaambakhsh, insisted that the defendant had
been treated fairly.

"We had other evidence as well," he said. "In addition to the document in
question, he had anti-Islamic texts on his mobile phone." In addition,
Adli said, 16 students and lecturers at Balkh University, which Kaambakhsh
attended, signed a document condemning his behavior and describing it as
"anti-Islamic." "All of the testimony is in his dossier; you can study
it," said Adli.

Kaambakhsh's brother angrily refutes the charges.

"He may have had some jokes on his phone, something harmless about girls,"
said Ibrahimi. "As for the testimony of his classmates - well, you can get
anybody to say anything you want."

Ever since his brother's arrest in October, Ibrahimi has contended that
he, rather than his brother, has been the real target of former warlords
in the region who continue to exert enormous influence.

"I have recently written several reports from the northern provinces about
powerful men who were abusing people's rights," he said. "These men can
create any kind of plot they wish - they have influence over all classes
of people. They want to punish me in this way." Ibrahimi said he received
numerous threats after his articles appeared and that the authorities have
searched his home and office, temporarily confiscating his computer hard
drive.

International outcry

Rahimullah Samander, the head of the Afghan Independent Journalists'
Association, agrees with Ibrahimi's assessment.

"When (Kaambakhsh) was arrested, IWPR's office in Mazar was searched by
the NDS, and (Ibrahimi's) notebooks were taken, which contained contact
numbers for the sources in his stories," he said. But because of his
prominence as a reporter whose articles are been published worldwide, "the
authorities could not arrest Ibrahimi," Samander said. Arresting his
brother "was a good way of pressuring Ibrahimi and his family."

Fazel Rahman Oria, the editor of the Erada, an independent daily newspaper
in Kabul, says the sentence is a "lesson to other journalists."

(source: Hafizullah Gardesh is a reporter in Afghanistan for The Institute
for War & Peace Reporting; Billings Gazette)






GERMANY/IRAN:

German left MEP condemns Iran's executions


A leading German member of the United European Left group in the European
Parliament has voiced his group's opposition to the Iranian government's
execution of Ahwazi Arab activist Zamel Bawi and the threat of further
executions.

This week, the United European Left voted against a resolution that
included condemnation of the execution campaign against Ahwazi activists,
including a Dutch citizen and two UNHCR-registered refugees who were
kidnapped in Syria in 2006, as well as other human rights issues, the
nuclear programme and EU-Iran relations.

In an email to Karim Abdian, the Chairman of the Ahwaz Human Rights
Organisation (AHRO), Tobias Pflger MEP explained that the group voted
against the European Parliament resolution on Iran due to its concerns
over an unrelated paragraph on the issue of Iran's nuclear programme which
he feared would make it possible to introduce "conterproductive sanctions
as steps to a possible war against Iran." He said: "In the negotations we
supported the human rights aspects of the resolution," adding that the
left-wing group of MEPs supported the paragraph condemning the executions
of Ahwazi Arabs.

Daniel Brett, Chairman of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS),
welcomed Mr Pflger's condemnation of executions. He said: "We believe that
Mr Pflger's position is shared by the Greens who voted against the
resolution on Iran and who have consistently opposed the death penalty. We
urge all MEPs to make human rights central to EU relations with Iran,
instead of being side-tracked by the issue of Iran's nuclear proliferation
which serves as a convenient distraction for the regime. The persecution
of minorities, such as Ahwazi Arabs, should be an important aspect of
human rights dialogue."

(source: Al-Ahwaz News)