Journalist Sayed Yacoub Ibrahimi writes a first-person story about his brother, Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, sentenced to death by a court in northern Afghanistan for blasphemy.

From the Institute for War and Peace Reporting:

My father called me, his voice shaking with emotion.

“The paper said ‘execution’,” he said, then the phone went dead.

I went to see Parwez. He looked very worried, and I asked him what was wrong.

This is what he told me, “A number of policemen came around 1:00 pm and took me to the court house. I sat in a room there for three hours, then I was taken to another room. There were three judges and an attorney. They gave me a letter, it had already been prepared, and told me it was my sentence. They would not let me speak. The hearing lasted just five minutes, then the police put me in a vehicle and took me back to prison.”

I tried to reassure my brother. “Don’t worry, there are still many courts ahead of you,” I told him.

He was trying to cover it up, but he could not hide his fear.

At 8:00 my mother called. She was crying, because she had heard on the television that Parwez had been sentenced to death. Even though I told her there were three other courts still ahead, she would not be consoled. She kept crying as if her son were about to be executed that very night.

Now we are looking for a lawyer who knows about modern technology and the Internet. We want to check and see whether this article actually exists.

We have also been trying to have his case transferred out of Balkh province, to Kabul. Parwez’s life is in danger in Balkh. But the level of bureaucracy is such that the process could take a month or two. In that time, the Balkh courts could hold the next trial.

There are officials who could help us transfer the case quickly, but we cannot reach them. They will not let us into their offices; they will not take our phone calls.

The NDS now has a signed confession, even if it was forced from Parwez. But even with the confession they should not have given him the death penalty. This is not according to Sharia law.

So we are convinced this is a political case. I am quite sure that it is directed at me, for my reporting on the warlords in the north. The authorities did not want to arrest me directly – then they would have to admit that it was an action against the media. This way they pressure me and claim it has nothing to do with freedom of the press; it is a blasphemy case.

What I cannot figure out, and what I have told journalists from all over the world when they interview me, is why is the international community focused only on the Taleban? The warlords are just as dangerous. We see that here – in the case of my brother, Parwez.

According to a Jan. 24 Guardian story, here's a way out for Parwez:

Two journalists sentenced to death for blasphemy in recent years escaped from jail and were granted asylum in the west.