AFGHANISTAN: JOURNALIST UNDER DEATH SENTENCE MOVED TO KABUL AHEAD OF HIS APPEAL

Reporters Without Borders welcomed the transfer to Kabul ahead of his appeal hearing of young Afghan journalist Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, who has been sentenced to death. His brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, had voiced his anxiety at a press conference at Reporters Without Borders’ Paris headquarters on 11 March, about threats to his brother, who was locked up with criminals and terrorists in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. His request for transfer to Kabul has finally succeeded, allowing Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh to be separated from other detainees in the vast Pul-e-Sharkhi jail, in the east of the capital. His transfer to Kabul has given rise to hopes that his appeal will not be influenced by religious fundamentalists, as was the case when he was sentenced to death for “blasphemy” by a court in Mazar-i-Sharif, on 22 January 2008.