The fourth trial of journalist Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh scheduled for Sunday, June 15, was delayed again by the judges in the case. Medical evidence has been submitted showing Kambakhsh was tortured during interrogations at the Balkh provincial jail, nevertheless the judges delayed the trial.
Yakub Kambakhsh, older brother of Parwez, and a noted journalist himself said, “Now we have found out that there is no impartial court in Afghanistan, even in the capital. Yesterday showed that all the judges are the enemy of Parwez. They are not real judges. They acted as prosecutors and investigators who wanted to make Parwez confess to a crime. The international community thinks that it is spending millions of dollars to reform the Afghan judicial system, and they think they have done a lot. Unfortunately they have just changed the tables, microphones, and the other furnishings of the courtroom, but not knowledge of the judicial process. Yesterday’s trial was a visible example. It was the same as the Balkh court but in the open. It is terrible when judges act as prejudiced prosecutors. Why does the international community support this kind of justice?” 
Yakub continued, “The decision of the judges yesterday was clear. They didn’t try to understand the case. They were just trying to find Parwez guilty. We moved the case to Kabul so an independent court would hear it, but there is no difference from Mazar-i-Sharif. And the position of the Afghan leadership, even with all pressure from international community, is still not clear. It seems like everyone wants to just kill time and make a Taliban style decision.”
“All Afghan journalists are concerned about this and request your full support,” concluded Yakub, who can be reached on his mobile phone in Kabul at +93 798 008807.
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