Afghan president orders release of journalists

"Now I have instructed the release of the two journalists pending their case in the court and let them go and defend themselves in the court of law in accordance with the laws of the country," Karzai told a radio broadcast.

The two were released Wednesday.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

Sayeed Mirhassan Mahdawi, editor of the Aftab ("Sun") weekly, and his Iranian deputy Ali Payam Sestani were arrested last Tuesday for publishing an article deemed offensive to Islam, contravening the country's press law. Aftab was also closed down.

The supreme court had called an article headlined 'Holy Fascism' an "offence to Islam" and asked for the low-circulation paper to be closed down and its editor prosecuted.

Karzai said he had ordered an investigation and defended the detention of the two since their arrest.

"The attorney general wrote to me of what had happened and asked for permission for an investigation and I instructed that these people be investigated," he said.

"And the investigation requires that those who are investigated for certain violation of laws must be detained for three days. After that we kept them in protective custody because there are lots of bad people around, miscreants who would like to use this issue to cause a lot of trouble," he said.

Karzai said the current 1964 constitution and press law provided for freedom of speech "but that freedom of expression must not violate the religious beliefs of the Afghan people or the national interests of the Afghan people.

"Unfortunately the article which was written by Aftab created doubts about that by the way the language was used to express their opinions," he said.