Afghanistan

The recent jailing of an Afghan magazine editor is raising concerns about the issue of press freedom in Afghanistan. Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the "Women’s Rights" monthly, was found guilty of publishing articles that were deemed un-Islamic. On 22 October, he was sentenced to two years in prison. The United Nations, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and several international...

KABUL -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai was under growing pressure on Tuesday to intervene in the case of an editor jailed for two years for blasphemy after clerics accused him of questioning Islamic law. The world's top media rights groups joined Afghan journalists in urging Karzai to intercede after a court sentenced Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly magazine Haqoq-e-Zan (Women's Rights)...

Taking note of the sentencing of an Afghan journalist to two years in prison for publishing an article considered offensive to Islam, the United Nations mission in the country said today the right to freedom of expression applies to everyone, including journalists, and should be strongly defended. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which is closely following the case of Ali Mohaqiq...

The editor of a respected women's magazine in Afghanistan has been sentenced to two years in jail for "blasphemy" after the judge in the case was ordered to imprison the editor by the Ulama Council, the country's leading religious body which is dominated by conservative clerics, according to reports from the Associated Press and regional newspapers like the Pak Times. The editor of Haqooq-i-Zan...

The editor of a women's rights magazine in Afghanistan has been sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy. Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of Huquq-e Zan (Women's Rights), was convicted today after a court in Kabul concluded that several articles in his magazine were anti-Islamic. WOMEN'S VOICE: The judges in charge of the case accused Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of Huquq-e Zan, of intentionally...

Prague, 20 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- One of the stories published in "Women's Rights" questioned the harsh punishment under Shari'a law for women found guilty of adultery, such as stoning. Another article argued that giving up Islam is not a crime. The magazine's editor, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, was arrested on 1 October following a complaint made to the Supreme Court by a religious adviser to Afghan...

New York, May 23, 2005–The former presenter for a popular MTV-style music video program was shot and killed in her home in Kabul last week. Shaima Rezayee, 24, hosted the daily music program "Hop" on the private television channel Tolo TV until March. Police told The Associated Press that Rezayee was killed May 18 by a single bullet wound to the head and that members of her family may have been...

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A bearded man from the bazaar is whisked into a barber shop, where he's given a shave and a slick haircut. After a facial, he visits fashion boutiques. In a few tightly edited minutes of television, the humble bricklayer is transformed into an Afghan metrosexual, complete with jeans, sweater, suede jacket, and sunglasses. It may sound like standard reality TV fare in the West...

Human right groups are expressing concern over the killing of an Afghan woman accused of committing adultery. The 29-year-old was reportedly sentenced to death by local religious leaders after she was found in the house of a man other than her husband. As contradictory reports emerge as to the specific cause of death, many observers say the Afghan government must do more to protect women from...

Reporters Without Borders today called on President Hamid Karzai to take a clear and definitive public stance in support of cable television and diversity in the broadcast media in response to a new wave of pressure from conservatives, especially the Ulema Council led by supreme court president Fazl Hadi Shinwari, for a ban on "anti-Islamic" TV stations. The press freedom organization said it...