Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Afghanistan Student on Death Row for Reading Internet Article

by Terrence O'Brien on September 5, 2008 at 11:46 AM


Last we checked, Afghanistan's government had been freed from the iron grip of the Taliban, but it seems as if its ideals are alive and well in the former front-line in the War on Terror. A 23-year old student is being held on death row in Kabul for downloading an article on the role of women in Islam from the Internet.

While we wish this were a joke, but it isn't -- in a government backed by the U.S., in the year 2008, a young man is being executed for reading. The student claims to have been tortured, and many governments are pressuring the Afghani courts to pardon him because his trial appears to have been unfair.

Check out the video above for full coverage from the BBC.

As a side note, we don't know what copy of the Koran this guy has been reading, but we're pretty sure it never advocates executing anyone simply for reading something. [From: the BBC via: GeekSugar]

Tags: download, downloading, islam, oppression, reading, taliban

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular