Afghan journalist sentenced to death in hospital over torture claim
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for insulting Islam was ordered by an appeals court on Sunday to get a medical check-up after the student's lawyer said his client had been tortured in police custody.
The judge postponed the appeal against conviction by 24-year-old Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh until results of the check-up are in.
Kambakhsh was studying journalism at Balkh University in Mazar-i-Sharif and writing for local newspapers when he was arrested Oct. 27.
He was sentenced to death by a primary court in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in a trial critics have called flawed. Kambakhsh was not represented by a lawyer at the trial.
On Sunday, lawyer Mohammad Afzil Nuristani told the court his client's nose and left wrist were injured in police custody.