Afghan charged with blasphemy faces death if convicted, vigilante murder if acquitted

An Afghan journalist who printed a translation of the Koran in a Persian dialect is on trial for blasphemy and could face the death penalty if convicted. But with threats from various powerful groups, he could face the same fate even if acquitted.

Ghaws Zalmay was arrested last November trying to flee to Pakistan after Afghanistan’s Senate backed a group of powerful Sunni clerics who were calling for his arrest. He was scheduled to have a third hearing in a Kabul court on Wednesday.

Zalmay, who was a spokesman for the Attorney General and head of Afghanistan's Journalists' Union at the time of his arrest, was charged with 13 counts of blasphemy. He is accused of having "written his own Koran" in Dari, one of Afghanistan's official languages. His two brothers and a friend were imprisoned, too, charged with helping him flee. Read more ...

Source: Fox News
H/T: Jihad Watch

Afghanistan: Death penalty call for man who spread Koran translation

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

An Afghan journalist accused of distributing an unacceptable translation of the Koran should be put to death, says former Prime Minister Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai.

Former journalist Ghows Zalmay, who was also the spokesman for Afghanistan's Attorney-General, was arrested in November last year for distributing a translation of the Koran into Dari, one of Afghanistan's two official languages.

Ahmadzai, who ran in the 2004 presidential election against current President Hamid Karzai, told Adnkronos International (AKI) he supported the death penalty for Zalmay. Read more ...

Source: AKIAhmad Shah Ahmadzai
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Muslims Against Sharia Demand Release of Ghows Zalmay

Muslims Against Sharia condemn Afghan parliament and law enforcement agency responsible for the arrest of Ghows Zalmay for the new translation of the Koran into Dari, and demand his immediate release.

The Afghan constitution enshrines freedom of expression, and Mr. Zalmay's arrest is unconstitutional.

Muslims Against Sharia request that NATO commanders and the U.S. State Department diplomats intervene on behalf of Mr. Zalmay and secure his immediate release.

More than seven hundred coalition troops gave their lives so the people of Afghanistan could enjoy Freedom and Democracy, not to be thrown in jail for expressing their religious views.

Read more ...

Afghan Koran Distributor Arrested

By Alix Kroeger

The distributor of a new translation of the Koran has been arrested after complaints from religious scholars that the new edition was un-Islamic.

Former journalist Ghows Zalmay is also the spokesman for Afghanistan's attorney general.

He was arrested on the border on Sunday while trying to flee into Pakistan.

Demonstrators protested in two Afghan provinces against the new translation of the Koran into Dari, one of Afghanistan's two official languages.

Religious scholars are outraged at the new edition of the Muslim holy book.

They say that it is un-Islamic, that it misinterprets verses about alcohol, begging, homosexuality and adultery.

They also complain that it does not contain the original version in Arabic as a parallel text for comparison.

Both houses of the Afghan parliament have held emergency debates.

Senators have called for Mr Zalmay and the translator, himself a mullah, to be punished.

One said Mr Zalmay was "worse than Salman Rushdie", whose book, The Satanic Verses, caused widespread outrage in the Islamic world.

Another said Mr Zalmay was under the protection of a foreign security company.

In the northern city of Taloqan 1,500 university students took to the streets in protest, while in the south-east province of Nimruz 1,000 local people, including several mullahs, took part in a demonstration.

The Afghan constitution enshrines freedom of expression, but for many Afghans that freedom has clear limits and they do not include making interpretive translations of the Koran.

Source: BBC
Hat tip: Redneck Texan