English PEN is seriously concerned about the detention of Afghan editor Ali Muhaqiq Nasab.

 

According to PEN's information, Nasab, editor of the Kabul-based monthly magazine Haqoq-e-Zan (Women's Rights), was detained by Iranian officials in Qom, near the Iranian capital Tehran, on 4 March 2008, and continues to be held without charge. Documents, mobile phones and a computer were reportedly confiscated from his home at the time of his arrest, and Nasab's wife has so far been denied access to him and information about him. Officials from Iran's embassy in Kabul have declined to comment on the case.

Nasab was previously charged with blasphemy in his native Afghanistan in October 2005, and sentenced to two years in jail for publishing articles that were accused of being 'anti-Islamic' in Haqoq-e-Zan. The articles questioned harsh penalties for adultery and theft. Nasab's sentence was reduced on appeal to six months, despite some calling for the death penalty. 

PEN is seriously concerned that Nasab is being held for his writings in support of women's rights, and therefore calls for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.

Please send appeals: