Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Afghan courts have once again postponed the date of the appeals hearing for the young Muslim journalist Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, who has been condemned to death for “blasphemy”. In the meantime the health of the 23 year old is worsening due to the conditions in which he is being held. The International Federation of Journalist (IFJ), an umbrella group of 600 journalists in over 120 countries, has expressed its grave concerns for the case of Kambakhsh, denouncing that the appeals hearing against the death penalty at the Afghan Supreme court, originally set for April 25th last, has once again been postponed because of the poor health conditions of the condemned man. On May 18th the hearing was first adjourned because of the “absence of defense lawyers”.
Kambakhsh's brother, journalist Yaqub Ibrahimi, has informed the IFJ that the reason for his brother's ill health is his prolonged detention in highly unsanitary conditions and the severe psychological stress he has been under since his arrest in October 2007 and his conviction in January 2008. The sentence was handed down January last during a farcical trail during which the journalist was only given four minutes to defend himself. Kambakhsh is charged with distributing blasphemous pamphlets which desecrate the principles of Islam. The journalist, who maintains his innocence, has instead denounced episodes of torture in prison during which police forced him to “confess” his crimes.
The IFJ maintains that “to prolong the young journalist's detention on the grounds of ill-health, when his ill-health is itself a consequence of his prolonged detention, does not meet any standard of fairness”. To such ends the Federation has urged the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, to intervene in the matter and ensure a fair and speedy determination of Kambakhsh's appeal.