Student facing 20 years in hell
16th March 2009
The 23-year-old, brought to worldwide attention after an Independent campaign, was praying that Afghanistan’s top judges would quash his conviction for lack of evidence, or because he was tried in secret and convicted without a defence lawyer. Instead, almost 18 months after he was arrested for allegedly circulating an article about women’s rights, any hope of justice and due process evaporated amid gross irregularities, allegations of corruption and coercion at the Supreme Court. Justices issued their decision in secret, without letting Mr Kambaksh’s lawyer submit so much as a word in his defence.
A useful reminder that Afghanistan, although better than it was, is still locked in the hell of Islamic law. The ironic part is that the Chattering Classes in the West, who would be the first to take to the streets if a Christian nation did something like this, are loudly silent. The sad part is that our people are dying, and our wallets bleeding, in order to buy these idiots the freedom to oppress each other.
Isolationism in foreign affairs never looked so attractive.