Afghan court spares 'anti-Islam' reporter

An Afghan appeal court on Tuesday overturned the death sentence of a young reporter accused of blasphemy and “disseminating defamatory comments about Islam.”, but upheld his conviction and sentenced him to 20 years in jail.

Perwiz Kambakhsh, a 23-year-old journalist, was arrested in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of the northern province of Balkh, on Oct. 27 last year on charges of insulting Islam.

After hearing evidence from several witnesses, the court upheld his conviction for "insulting Islam and the respected Prophet Mohammad," but ruled on the lesser sentence.

Kambakhsh and his lawyer, Mohammad Afzal Shormach Nuristani, told reporters afterwards they would appeal. The sentence was "unjust", Nuristani said.

Reporters Without Borders, an international media rights watchdog, said it was outraged by the decision, which it called "shameful."

The case has attracted worldwide condemnation and several calls were made for President Hamid Karzai to intervene to spare the reporter.

Washington had expressed its concern, saying it was troubled by the case and the U.S. ambassador in Kabul raised the matter with Afghan authorities.

"We're concerned about this sentence that was handed down to a reporter for basically practicing his profession and we wouldn't want to see any actions taken that would limit his or anyone else's freedom of the press or freedom of expression," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters in January, following the initial ruling.

The reporter and university journalism student was arrested after he printed off the Internet and distributed an article that allegedly questions some tenets of Islam and aspects of Prophet Mohammad.

He has alleged torture during his year-long detention and said his initial trial in Mazar-i-Sharif lasted only minutes and he was given no legal representation.

At Tuesday's hearing, five of his former lecturers testified that Kambakhsh had asked them "anti-Islam and insulting questions."

But a classmate, identified only as Hamid, said his earlier testimony at the first trial had been made under pressure from the country's intelligence department.

We're concerned about this sentence that was handed down to a reporter for basically practicing his profession

State Department spokesman Tom Casey