"Throwing Dust in the Eyes of Our People": the Afghan Election Is Just for Show.

• Author: Joya, Malalai
• Position: Journalist Malalai Joya's speech at the 'Global Forum on Freedom of Expression' - Speech

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In the name of democracy and peace, dear friends, I'm thankful to Norwegian PEN and the Freedom of Expression Foundation for inviting me to this forum, which is an opportunity for me to share the painful story of my devastated country with you.

The topic of the forum is "freedom of expression," a value that we in Afghanistan have been deprived of for decades while living under brutal and undemocratic regimes. In our country, to express your opinion and point of view openly, you have to face death threats and risks.

After 9/11, the Bush Administration and its allies invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban under the banner of "freedom," "democracy," and "human rights," bur the United States and its allies outfitted the Northern Alliance criminal warlords with the mask of democracy and brought them to power. It is due to the wrong and devastating policies of the U.S. government and NATO countries that unfortunately today Afghanistan is a mafia state and ranked at the top of the most unstable and corrupt countries in the world.

Despite much hue and cry about freedom of expression and the press, Afghanistan also remains one of the bloodiest countries for journalists and those who date to voice the truth. Out of 169 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, Afghanistan is put low on the list at 142.

As an elected member of the Afghan parliament, my own case speaks for itself. For exposing the nature of the Afghanistan parliament, which is full of warlords and drug lords, I was threatened to be raped and even killed right inside the parliament house and finally unlawfully suspended. When freedom of expression does not exist in the parliament of a country for its elected representatives, one can easily feel what would be the situation for the ordinary people.

Afghanistan is a haven for abusers of human rights and for fundamentalist terrorists, but those who speak for justice and democracy are under much pressure. The Western countries are only supporting criminals in Afghanistan and are there for their own strategic, economic, and regional interests in Afghanistan for which they are sacrificing the poor Afghan people.

The prominent case of Parvez Kambakhsh, a young Afghan journalist, very well portrays the mockery of freedom and justice in Afghanistan. Kambakhsh was sentenced to death for downloading materials from the Internet that questioned the condition of women in Islam, which was termed anti-Islamic by the warlords...