[ToloNews] A primary court in Afghanistan is expected to release Zaman Ahmadi, a man who was handed a 20-year prison sentence in 2012 for blasphemy...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran...
On December 3 last year, the Supreme Court of Afghanistan reversed a 20-year jail sentence for Ahmadi, but their decision must be reviewed by the primary court.
A primary court in Kabul in 2012 had sentenced Ahmadi to 20 years’ imprisonment for blasphemy.
On Friday, Ahmadi spoke to a TOLOnews’ correspondent from Kabul jail and said that he expects to be released on bail, possibly next week.
Ahmadi expressed hope that a new court will serve justice on his case.
Ahmadi’s defending lawyers also said they hope that Ahmadi is released on bail sometimes next week.
Ahmadi has spent seven years in jail so far.
"Now that a comeback by the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...into power is felt again, everyone is realizing that I was innocent; I was defending social values," Ahmadi told TOLOnews.
"I thank the Supreme Court for reversing a false verdict against me, I hope that the primary court serves justice," said Ahmadi.
"This time we will only focus on securing the acquittal of my client," said Ali Madad Hakimi, Ahmadi’s defending lawyer.
The Attorney General’s Office meanwhile said that the Supreme Court of Afghanistan will take the final decision about the release of Ahmadi.
"The original decision will be reversed, the courts in Afghanistan will issue their decision on the case, and whatever is decided by the courts of Afghanistan, the Attorney General will comply with," said Jamshid Rasuli, front man for the Attorney General of Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has also said they will pursue Ahmadi’s case.
Ahmadi was arrested in west of Kabul in 2012 after he wrote an article about the factors that led to the destruction of a Buddha statue in the central province of Bamiyan
...a place in Afghanistan that used to have some historically interesting statues of the Buddha carved into a mountainside. Then the holy men showed up and now all they have is some big holes...