Afghan journalist convicted of blasphemy receives jail term

The editor of a women’s rights magazine in Afghanistan has been sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy. The editor, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, was convicted after a court in Kabul concluded that several articles in his magazine Huquq-e Zan were anti-Islamic. Correspondents say the case underlines the fragility of journalistic freedom in post-Taliban Afghanistan. It also highlights a struggle between religious moderates and extremists over what form Islam should take.
Mr Nasab was arrested earlier this month after he published a series of controversial articles. One of them argued that giving up Islam was not a crime that should be punished by death, as sanctioned by some interpretations of Islamic Sharia law. Other pieces criticized the practice of punishing adultery with 100 lashes and argued that men and women should be considered by Islamic law to be equals.

Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4368704.stm

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