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.
