Colorado and Pennsylvania schools have their controversial t-shirts. Turkey has its scarves. In Afghanistan, the problem is literature about women's rights.

Last year, Parwiz Kambakhsh ran afoul of Afghan authorities when he circulated an article about the rights of women under Islam after downloading it from the Internet. He was studying at the time in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where he also worked as a part-time journalist for local papers. Kambakhsh was tried on blasphemy charges and sentenced to death. His supporters...