Afghan blasphemy-accused writer freed after 8 yrs

An Afghan writer, who was handed a 20-year prison sentence in 2012 for blasphemy, has been released after eight years, it was reported.

"Acquittal from the court, the removal of the allegations. and my freedom were among my basic demands to the court," TOLO News quoted Zaman Ahmadi as saying after his release on Thursday.

"My family and I suffered the most; I was the only breadwinner of my family at the time," added the writer.

On December 3, 2019, the Supreme Court had reversed the 20-year jail sentence for Ahmadi.

However it said at the time that the decision must be reviewed by the primary court.

Ahmadi was arrested in the west of Kabul in 2012 after he wrote an article about the factors that led to the destruction of a Buddha statue in the central province of Bamiyan.

Following his release, Ali Madad Hakimi, Ahmadi's lawyer, said: "Justice was served to some extent in the view of the evidence and the documents related to the case." IANS