Both these stories are from the Independent, which has made the case of Afghan journalist Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, facing a possible death sentence for blasphemy, an institutional crusade.
From Feb. 26:
Pervez verdict is wrong, says jail chief
The head of the prison where Sayed Pervez Kambaksh is being held believes it was "very wrong" to sentence the young student to death and that he should be freed as soon as possible.
General Taj Mohammed, chief of the prison service for northern Afghanistan, told The Independent: "He is a young man and he does not deserve to die, he does not deserve what has been done to him. I do not think it is right that someone should be killed for an offence like this. I believe we should be much more tolerant. We are, after all, meant to be a democratic country." ...
He said: "I was a teacher and I know how important education is. Also I dealt with a lot of journalists when I was in the Culture Ministry. Sometimes, what they wrote was inaccurate and irritated me. But that does not mean we should ban what they are writing. I do not believe in that form of censorship and I think this is something which applies to Pervez's case, and this time it has gone too far."
The general believes that even if Mr Kambaksh is freed, his life may never be safe. "Unfortunately, we have fundamentalists in our society; not all have gone with the fall of the Taliban. To these people Pervez is a heretic, the enemy, and they may try to harm him."
From Feb. 25:
Clutching the bars at his prison, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh recalls how his life unravelled. "There was no question of me getting a lawyer to represent me in the case; in fact I was not even able to speak on my own defence."
The 23-year-old student, whose death sentence for downloading a report on women's rights from the internet has become an international cause célèbre, was speaking to The Independent at his jail in Mazar-i-Sharif – the first time the outside world has heard his own account of his shattering experience. In a voice soft, somewhat hesitant, he said: "The judges had made up their mind about the case without me. The way they talked to me, looked at me, was the way they look at a condemned man. I wanted to say 'this is wrong, please listen to me', but I was given no chance to explain."
For Mr Kambaksh the four-minute hearing has led to four months of incarceration, sharing a 10 by 12 metre cell with 34 others -- murderers, robbers and terrorists – and having the threat of execution constantly hanging over him. His fate appeared sealed when the Afghan senate passed a motion, proposed by Sibghatullkah Mojeddeid, a key ally of the President Hamid Karzai, confirming the death sentence, although this was later withdrawn after domestic and international protests.