Editor is held on anti-Islam charge

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan authorities have detained the editor of a women's rights magazine on the orders of a presidential adviser…

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan authorities have detained the editor of a women's rights magazine on the orders of a presidential adviser who deemed one of his articles blasphemous to Islam, a senior government official said yesterday.

Mohaqiq Nasab, editor-in-chief of Hoqooq Zan, or Women's Rights, was detained last Thursday on instructions from a religious adviser to president Hamid Karzai, the official said.

Fazel Sangcharaki, a deputy minister at the ministry of information and culture, said, however, that Mr Nasab's arrest was technically illegal as the government-appointed media commission was supposed to question him before deciding whether he deserved to be jailed or freed.

He said the editor should be handed over to the commission.

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- (Reuters)