The Afghan reporter Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh has told the Institute of War and Peace Reporting that he was coerced into signing the confession on the basis of which he has been sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Hafizullah Gardesh writes from Kabul that analysts and media rights advocates claim that the harsh sentence was delivered “as an indirect form of retribution against Kaambakhsh’s brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, a reporter who has written extensively on human rights abuses in the north”.
AFP reports that the Afghanistan’s senate has endorsed a death sentence handed down last week by the Balkh province primary court and criticised international pressure over the case.
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