Two journalists accused of publishing articles that defamed Islam were released Wednesday after a week in prison but will still face trial, President Hamid Karzai said. The weekly newspaper Aftab printed an article June 11 saying the Muslim world had not seen progress in 1,400 years and accused leaders in Afghanistan\'s north of building palaces with \"bloody hands.\" Chief editor Sayed Mahdawi and his Iranian deputy, Ali Riza Payam, were arrested June 17. Karzai said he ordered them released but they will still go to trial. \"We don\'t consider what they have written to be the freedom of the press,\" Karzai said before leaving for Poland. \"Freedom of the press does not mean that you can go and attack the beliefs of millions of people.\" The case has exposed fault lines between Islamic conservatives and liberals within Karzai\'s U.S.-backed administration. Defamation of Islam is an extremely sensitive topic in Afghanistan, a pious Muslim country that has been led by fundamentalist religious conservatives since the 1990s. Many of them are back in power following the ouster of the Taliban in 2001. Karzai said he did not mind when the press was critical of him or his government, but religion was another matter. \"The press has been critical of the government, the press has been critical of me personally for all these times, they\'ve even abused us, but I have not taken action against them,\" Karzai said. \"But when it comes to the Afghan people\'s religious beliefs ... it is also our job to protect that.\" Deputy Justice Fazel Ahmed Manawi said the trial could begin next week. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the releases, but expressed concern about threats of prosecution against journalists who are critical of Islam. \"Until the charges against them are dropped and new laws protecting the rights of journalists to do their jobs without fear of reprisal are established, Afghanistan will continue to be a hazardous place for the media,\" the committee\'s executive director, Ann Cooper, said in a statement. (AP)