Afghan court sentences journalist to death on blasphemy charge

Kabul, Jan.23 : A court in Afghanistan's Balkh Province has sentenced a journalist to death for distributing "blasphemous" material.

Twenty-three-year-old Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, who was arrested in 2007 for downloading material from the internet relating to the role of women in Islamic societies, has confessed to the charge of blasphemy, and therefore, had to be punished.

The court said that it would not entertain any protests against the death sentence on Kambakhsh.

Kambakhsh, a student at Balkh University and a journalist for Jahan-e Naw (New World), was arrested in October 2007 after material he downloaded was deemed to be offensive to Islam.

ANI