| Two steps forward, one step back. |
Rahimullah Samandar, who chairs Afghanistan's Independent Association of Journalists, said Ali Mohaqiq Nasab was jailed on 2 October. Nasab is a religious scholar and the editor of the monthly "Haqooq-i-zan" ("Women's Rights") magazine. His detention followed a complaint filed by minority Shi'ite Muslim clerics objecting to two articles critical of the Islamic law that had been published in "Haqooq-i-zan."
Supreme Court official Mohammad Karim said the attorney-general had ordered Nasab's detention and that Muslim clerics where currently reviewing his case. One of the articles is reportedly critical of the punishment under Shari'ah, or Islamic law, of 100 lashes for those women who are found guilty of adultery. The other article reportedly argues that giving up Islam is not a crime.