Aftab Editor 'Destabilising Afghanistan'

Controversial journalist Mir Hosain Mahdavi's writings are dangerous because they are not only blasphemous but they also destabilise Afghanistan, claims a prominent ex-mujahedin journalist.

Hafiz Mansoor, 39, who is on the editorial board of the Payam-e-Mujahed newspaper, argues that Mahdavi's criticisms of mujahedin and his questioning of the role of Islam in government undermine the reconstruction process.

Mahdavi, 31, was editor of the Aftab newspaper until the authorities closed it down following the publication of a controversial column, entitled Sacred Fascism, in which he questioned the role of Islam in government and criticised the pasts of now-powerful mujahedin figures.

As a result, he and another Aftab journalist were jailed for eight days. While they were later released, they are still to face charges and have had to go into exile. The supreme court has issued a fatwa recommending a death sentence.

Although Mansoor considers Mahdavi's writings insulting, he doesn't believe that the mujahedin should be exempt from scrutiny simply because they fought in the jihad, the war against the Soviets.

But blanket criticism of mujahedin is an insult to the concept of holy war, and is therefore against Islam, Mansoor said.

On the subject of Mahdavi's right to express his opinion, Mansoor said that Islam recognises the importance of free speech - but to an extent which varies depending on the circumstances. So when the country is fragile, it may be necessary to ban any publication that has a destabilising effect.

"In the present conditions, security is the first priority for our people," he told IWPR. "If there is no security, there will be no reconstruction, the government will not establish itself, and there will be no education, no human rights and no publications."

He added, "This article and others like it may have been written in the name of freedom of speech, but instead of bringing stability, they undermine the reconstruction and have negative effects."

The editor also claimed that Mahdavi and his newspaper were driven by the lure of foreign money. "He was using the pen not according to his beliefs, but for profit," he said. "Whatever the funders tell him, he does. He doesn't have a mind of his own."

He alleged that Mahdavi had written deliberately provocative columns in order to raise his profile and boost his chances of seeking asylum in the West.

The former Aftab editor - speaking to IWPR by telephone from his secret location in exile - rejected the claims.

He said that while Aftab received funding from the German aid organisation GTZ and the American supported Afghan Civil Society group, they did not dictate what he wrote, and in fact backed him because he was independent.

He maintains that his goal in writing the column was to promote religious reform. He now intends to expand these ideas into a book.

Mahdavi, who holds a bachelors degree in physics from Tehran University, spent five years studying aspects of Islam at Iranian religious schools.

Mansoor left high school in 1979 to join the fight against the Soviets, and was a mujahedin fighter until 1992. He then went on to complete his schooling and studied journalism at Kabul University.

Mansoor worked as the head of the state news agency Bakhtar before going back to the resistance, this time to the Taleban. He also served as cultural director for the Jamiat-e-Islami party.

Following the collapse of the Taleban, Mansoor joined the interim administration, where he served as acting culture and information minister and director general of Radio and Television Afghanistan. He left this post last year to join Payam-e-Mujahed.

Mansoor has written seven books on Afghanistan's wars, including a biography of assassinated Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. His eighth book, a critique of the current transitional administration, titled "Karzai Signs Without Reading", is to be published this week.

Danish Karokhel is an IWPR editor/trainer in Kabul.