Wednesday, January 23, 2008

News from "liberated" Afghanistan: the rule of pro-US Taliban. Where are the US feminist organizations (like the Feminist Majority) which agitated for war on Afghanistan: "Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the pressure being placed on the authorities by conservative religious leaders in the case of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a young journalist in the northern province of Balkh who has been detained since late October on charges of blasphemy and defaming Islam. The Council of Mullahs says he should be sentenced to death. "The calls for the death penalty for Kambakhsh highlight the growing influence of fundamentalist groups on intellectual debate," the organisation said. "The blasphemy charges are an ill-disguised attempt to hide the desire of the local authorities to restrict press freedom."...Reporters Without Borders is also very concerned about Ghows Zalmay, a former journalist and attorney-general's spokesman, who is being held for publishing a translation of the Koran into Dari. He was arrested in early November after conservative religious leaders said the translation was "un-Islamic" and misinterpreted verses about adultery and begging. Parliamentarians have even accused him of being "worse than Salman Rushdie." Afghan journalists are exposed to threats and harassment from religious fundamentalists who try to prevent any debate about Islam and the status of women. The authorities often violate freedom of expression on the grounds of protecting the Islamic nature of Afghan society."