RAPID ACTION NETWORK

30 March 2010

RAN 49/08 – Update #1

The Writers in Prison Committee (WIPC) of International PEN welcomes the release of journalist Ahmed Ghous Zalmai, publisher Mohammad Ateef Noori and Mullah Qari Mushtaq, on 20 March 2010. Zalmai and Mullah Mushtaq were serving a twenty-year prison sentence and Noori a five-year prison sentence, for publishing a translation of the Koran.

According to International PEN’s information, in September 2008 the three individuals were convicted under Article 130 of the Afghan Constitution for ‘publishing the Koran in a Dari translation’. Dari is a Farsi dialect spoken in Afghanistan. It is said that the case stemmed from the failure to print the Arabic original of the Koran alongside the translation, as reportedly required by Islamic law in Afghanistan, and for alleged errors and misunderstandings in the translation. Their release is believed to have been the result of diplomatic pressure.

WiPC previous alert on this case:

http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/index.cfm?objectid=B8F03964-E0C4-ED84-051D67DB58995255

***No further action is required. Thank you for taking action in this case.***

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@internationalpen.org.uk