vigilant TV

RSF has been following the story of Afghan newspaper Aftab, which was shut down by the government last week after publishing articles criticizing Islamic rulers’ attitudes towards civil rights. The newspaper’s editor and one journalist have been arrested and detained under a vague law that prohibits articles offensive to Islam.

The Afghan supreme court will try Aftab editor Sayed Madawi and his deputy Ali Payam Sestani for “libelling Islam,” the court’s vice-president Fazel Ahmed Manawi announced on 21 June. The two journalists, who were arrested on 17 June, are being prosecuted for articles in the weekly’s 11 June issue but account will also be taken of articles in previous issues in the past few months. The case is still before the public prosecutor and no trial date has been set.

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The Kabul supreme court’s council of ulemas (religious leaders) voiced outrage at articles in Aftab’s latest issue on 11 June. In a column headlined “Holy fascism,” editor Sayeed Mirhassan Mahdawi criticised Islam as it is currently practised and linked the social and economic backwardness of Islamic societies to its archaic character. He also criticised ethnic crimes committed in Islam’s name, especially by former mujahideen chiefs. Another article in the same issue said Islam as practised in Afghanistan was contrary to democracy and to its citizens’ social and political rights.

Calling the articles an “offence to Islam,” the supreme court asked for Aftab to be closed and its editor to be prosecuted. The government on 17 June order the newspaper’s closure and Mahdawi’s arrest for “blasphemy.” Mahdawi and his deputy Ali Payam Sestani, an Iranian national, have been detained since then in Kabul. They have not so far been mistreated.

– RSF, Supreme court to try two journalists.

See also ABC, Afghan court to try journalists for blasphemy.