SAYED PERVEZ KAMBAKSH AND THE DEATH PENALTY

That this House condemns the arrest and sentencing to death in Afghanistan of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a journalism student accused of blasphemy after downloading and distributing to students and teachers a report on women's rights; notes with dismay that the Member of Parliament who proposed the ruling condemning Mr Kambaksh was Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, a key ally of President Hamid Karzai; expresses concern that Hafiz Khaliqyar, a senior prosecutor in Mazar-i-Sharif, where Mr Kambaksh was arrested, had warned journalists that they would be punished if they protested against the death sentence passed on Mr Kambaksh; notes with concern that a female Member of Parliament, Malalai Joya, has been suspended after criticising her male colleagues; congratulates the UK Government for funding the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, which trains media workers in Afghanistan; welcomes the campaign launched by The Independent newspaper calling for Mr Kambaksh's sentence to be overturned; calls on the UK Government to press the Afghan government to ensure the right to free speech is upheld and enforced; further calls on the UK Government to press the Afghan government to abolish the use of the death penalty; and urges the UK Government to press President Karzai to use his right of intervention and pardon Mr Kambaksh.