I just finished reading Khaled Hosseini’s follow up novel to the Kite Runner called a Thousand Splendid Suns. It could be called a thousand beatings given the amount of male on female violence in the book. I don’t want to put people off it as he both tells a story and exposes the manner in which many women are treated in feudal based societies such as those operating in some areas of Afghanistan

So it didn’t surprise me when I read about this young man, Sayed Pervez Kambaskh, who has been sentenced to death for daring to download a report about the oppression of women by Muslim fundamentalists and how it was directly against the teachings of the prophet Mohammed.

A huge campaign has been mounted on behalf of Pervez as the continued erosion of civil liberties and human rights continues in Afghanistan. This is what the web is all about so get online and sign the petition, blog about it and generally embarrass Hamid Karzai into action.

Death continues to lie over this country like a dark shadow but its one off events like this that can have huge repercussions.

Tags: afghanistan, amnesty, democracy, freedom, human rights, violence