Lawyer demands release for Afghan reporter on death row

An Afghan reporter has been rotting in jail for more than a year for writing an article critical of the way islam treats women. The reporter was sentenced to death back in January

We should have never of let the Afghans put shariah law as their highest law into the Afghanistan constitution. That's what we're fighting to prevent here. AFP

KABUL (AFP) — The lawyer of an Afghan reporter sentenced to death on blasphemy charges accused authorities Thursday of holding his client beyond a legal deadline, as the young man neared a full year in detention.

The appeal of Perwiz Kambakhsh -- arrested last October and sentenced to death by a primary court in January -- has been repeatedly delayed because witnesses who had first testified against him did not turn up to court.

"Based on the law, an appeal court can hold a suspect only for two months. Within this two months, it either should rule or otherwise the suspect must be freed," lawyer Mohammad Afzal Shormach Nuristani told reporters.

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A university student of journalism, he was convicted of blasphemy for distributing an article he downloaded from the Internet which questioned aspects of Islam.

The article raised issues about the Koran, the Prophet Mohammad and Islam's views on women.

Afghanistan's judicial system is based on Islamic Sharia law, which forbids criticism of Islam and rules that the death penalty should be applied in cases of blasphemy.