Afghan journalist sentenced to die lives to tell his tale

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- On the morning of Oct. 27, 2007, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh got the call that changed his life.The phone rang early, before Kambakhsh had started his day as a second-year journalism student. The caller identified himself as an official from the notorious National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's national intelligence agency."They said come to the NDS office," Kambakhsh recalled. At the time, he couldn't fathom what the visit was about. "I arrived over there at 10 a.m. And I waited until 3 p.m., when I asked for the manager to see if I could go home," he said. "It was my working time. They said to me, 'You cannot go. You are under arrest.' Then, they arrested me."This week Kambakhsh narrowly escaped the death penalty over alleged actions that -- even had he committed them, which he denies -- would be nothing more than a typical classroom debate for a journalism student in the West.Rather than execution, Kambakhsh now faces 20 years in prison.In an interview from his central Kabul jail cell, the 24-year-old recounted his final moments of freedom and the events that led to his conviction.His case has made headlines since the arrest. International justice and journalism advocates began a lobbying surge early this year after he was convicted of blasphemy for allegedly asking questions about the role of women in Islamic society.The death sentence was reduced this week after a witness confessed to lying about Kambakhsh's alleged indiscretions, but a Kabul court still upheld the conviction.And so, at an age when most Afghan men are raising young families, Kambakhsh finds himself locked alone in prison, pleading for justice and for a chance simply to be heard."I am not at fault," he said, speaking through a Pashto translator. "I am a Muslim and I respect Islamic rules and regulations. I respect the Holy book of Koran. I respect the Prophet. I am an innocent person. I must be free."In October 2007, Kambakhsh tried, to no avail, to tell the intelligence service this very same thing."They asked me many, many questions about an article which was translated from Arabic into Pashto. They said, 'Why did you translate this article?' I said, 'My brother, I don't know the Arabic language. It's not my work.' "For seven days, Kambakhsh said, he was held in custody at NDS, which by then was the subject of international questions over its reportedly harsh treatment of battleground detainees.During that week, one officer broke Kambakhsh's left hand trying to extract a confession. "They said, 'No, you translated this. You gave this to the students of the university. And you are guilty,' " Kambakhsh recalled. The next thing he remembers is being dumped into northern Balkh province's central jail, where he shared a 30-foot by 9-foot room with about 60 other inmates.Then, on Jan. 22, 2008, without prior explanation, he was hauled before a lower court judge -- without a defense lawyer -- for his "trial." No journalists were allowed into the court that day. Kambakhsh's audience for the three minutes he was given to defend himself was made up of the judge, the prosecutor and the court staff. What sticks out more in his memory than those three fraught minutes though, is the second after the clock ticked to 4:05 that afternoon."They gave me the order: 'You must die,' " Kambakhsh said. "When I heard this, I was shocked because I was innocent."Ultimately, Kambakhsh came to believe that his conviction was a sort of consolation prize, one meant to satiate local warlords who were incensed at his older brother.Also a journalist, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi Kambakhsh's passion was to publish works outlining "how the people of Afghanistan are the victims of warlordism and extremism," he said.Yaqub Kambakhsh said his international ties made warlords afraid to kill him. And so, he said, indirectly killing his brother became their solution.The only hope for the young man and his legal team is that the supreme court, which could begin reviewing his case in as little as three weeks, will decide to overturn his conviction. But hope for a victory is slim.Kambakhsh's brother, Yaqub, said foreign nations investing in Afghanistan's redevelopment should press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to intervene. The president has yet to comment publicly on the case.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)