Afghan sentenced to death; Rice asked to intervene

WASHINGTON — An independent federal panel is asking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene in the case of an Afghan sentenced to death under the nation’s blasphemy laws.

Michael Cromartie, chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, sent Rice a letter Jan. 24 asking her to intervene in the case of 23-year-old Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh. The student is accused of downloading, printing and distributing to fellow students at Balakh University an article concerning the role of women in Islam. He was arrested in October 2007 and accused of blasphemy. Cromartie said Kambakhsh was tried by a three-judge panel of religious scholars rather than by the nation’s media commission — a violation of the Afghan Constitution. The case is the latest highly publicized effort to enforce anti-blasphemy laws in Afghanistan.