PressEthic

Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, a (male) editor of an Afghan women’s rights magazine, has been in jail for 12 days after a religious advisor pressured the Afghani president to take action against the man. His crime? Publishing articles that criticized execution and other punishments for adultery, robbery, and murder under Islamic law. Eleanor Smeal, the president of the Feminist Majority, said in criticism of the U.S., “The United States is telling the world that the U.S. is supporting women’s rights and democracy in Afghanistan. Freedom of speech is fundamental to women’s rights and democracy.”

The information above is from a report in Ms.Magazine from yesterday, which contains a link to write a letter to Condoleezza Rice urging the U.S. to pressure the government in Afghanistan to release the journalist. But this information was not picked up by major newspapers in the U.S. when it happened a week ago. In a BBC story that ran on October 4, it was reported that under a local law, publications are not allowed to criticize Islam, but a journalist must be found guilty of a violation be an appointed committee, which did not happen in this case.

Where was this story in American papers?