(18 May 2008) SHOTLIST

1. Wide of judge arriving at the courtroom
2. Mid of policeman taking off handcuffs from Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh
3. Wide of court
4. Cutaway of media
5. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, Afghan journalist:
"I am a Muslim and I am from Sadat Family (Muslim sect relating themselves to Prophet Mohammad). I never allow my self to do any thing against Islam and it is peculiar to relate this case to me."
6. Various of courtroom
7. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Abdul Salam Qazizada, head of the three-judge panel at Kabul Appeal court:
"The second session of the trial will be held next Sunday."
8. Close of Kambakhsh taking notes
9. Mid of judge leaving the courtroom


STORYLINE:

An Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for insulting Islam denied the charges before an appeals court in Kabul on Sunday, saying he only confessed to questioning the religion's treatment of women because he was tortured.

During the hour-long hearing, a judge read aloud a transcript of the January 22 proceedings against 24-year-old Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh at the primary court in northern Balkh province.

It was the first time the public and the media heard full details of the closed-door trial of his case, which highlights the influence of conservative religious attitudes in post-Taliban Afghanistan's still-nascent justice system.

The transcript said Kambakhsh disrupted classes at Balkh University by asking questions about women's rights under Islam.

It also said he distributed an article about the subject and wrote an additional three paragraphs for the piece.

The only people with him in the courtroom in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif were three judges, a court scribe and the prosecutor.

Kambakhsh said he had no defence lawyer, and only three minutes to defend himself.

"I am a Muslim and I am from Sadat Family (Muslim sect relating themselves to Prophet Mohammad). I never allow myself to do any thing against Islam and it is peculiar to relate this case to me," he said in a statement before the court without a defence lawyer.

According to the Balkh court proceedings, the prosecutor said that Kambakhsh had confessed to writing three paragraphs of the article and had initialed them.

He also was accused of writing another sentence saying that "This is the real face of Islam... The prophet Mohammad wrote verses of the holy Quran just for his own benefit."

Kambakhsh said he did not believe he needed a defence lawyer because he had not done anything wrong.

The head of the three-judge panel, Abdul Salaam Qazizada, adjourned the trial until next Sunday to allow Kambakhsh to meet with a defence lawyer and prepare a written defence.

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