Oh, the shame of it!!!

[Flashermac]

Pressure Grows to Free Afghan Convert

 

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

25 March 2006

 

 

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Afghan government faced heavy international pressure Friday to reconsider the charges against an Afghan man who faces a possible death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity -- and reports emerged that the man might be freed soon.

 

Pressure against the case has been building, and the Afghan government may be rethinking the charges against Abdul Rahman. A government official and MSNBC said Friday that Rahman may be freed within the next few days.

 

"He could be released soon," an Afghan government official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the case to the media.

 

MSNBC, citing an Afghan diplomatic official it did not identify, said Rahman, 41, could be released Monday. The British Broadcasting Corp. said government officials were meeting Saturday to discuss the case.

 

Senior clerics in the Afghan capital have voiced strong support for prosecuting Rahman and again warned Friday they would incite people to kill him unless he reverted to Islam.

 

Ansarullah Mawlavi Zada, the chief among three judges trying the case, asserted the autonomy of the court.

 

"We have constitution and law here! Nobody has the right to put pressure on us," he told the AP.

 

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, meanwhile, joined the chorus of Western leaders expressing outrage over the prosecution and said he would protest personally to President Hamid Karzai.

 

"This is appalling. When I saw the report about this I felt sick literally," Howard told an Australian radio network Friday. "The idea that a person could be punished because of their religious belief and the idea they might be executed is just beyond belief."

 

Rahman faces the death penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

 

Karzai's office has declined to comment on the case, which has put the Afghan leader in an awkward position.

 

Karzai took power after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime in a U.S.-led war in late 2001 and relies on international forces to maintain his still-shaky grip on the country.

 

But he would be reluctant to offend Islamic sensibilities at home or alienate religious conservatives wielding considerable power.

 

Diplomats have said the Afghan government is searching for a way to drop the case. On Wednesday, authorities said Rahman is suspected of being mentally ill and would undergo psychological examinations to see whether he is fit to stand trial.

 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Karzai on Thursday, seeking a "favorable resolution" of the case. She said Washington looked forward to that "in the very near future."

 

Senior clerics condemned Rahman as an apostate.

 

Rahman had "committed the greatest sin" by converting to Christianity and deserved to be killed, cleric Abdul Raoulf said in a sermon Friday at Herati Mosque.

 

"God's way is the right way, and this man whose name is Abdul Rahman is an apostate," he told about 150 worshippers.

 

Another cleric, Ayatullah Asife Muhseni, told a gathering of preachers and intellectuals at a Kabul hotel that the Afghan president had no right to overturn the punishment of an apostate.

 

He also demanded that clerics be able to question Rahman in jail to discover why he had converted to Christianity. He suggested it could have been the result of a conspiracy by Western nations or Jews.

 

At a fruit market in Kabul, many ordinary Afghans said they supported the death penalty, but some wanted more investigation before meting out the punishment.

 

"In the past 30 years, so many Afghans have been killed in name of communism, Taliban and politics or for robbery. It's enough Afghans killed," said Ghulam Mohammed, 45, a former army officer. Clerics should talk to him (Rahman) and bring him to the right way."

[Flashermac]

Mar 26, 8:47 AM EST

 

 

Afghan Court Drops Case Against Christian

 

By DANIEL COONEY

Associated Press Writer

 

 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released soon, officials said.

 

The announcement came as U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai faced mounting foreign pressure to free Abdul Rahman, a move that risked angering Muslim clerics who have called for him to be killed.

 

An official closely involved with the case told The Associated Press that it had been returned to the prosecutors for more investigation, but that in the meantime, Rahman would be released.

 

"The court dismissed today the case against Abdul Rahman for a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case," the official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

 

"The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow," the official added. "They don't have to keep him in jail while the attorney general is looking into the case."

 

Abdul Wakil Omeri, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, confirmed that the case had been dismissed because of "problems with the prosecutors' evidence."

 

He said several family members of Rahman have testified that he has mental problems.

 

"It is the job of the attorney general's office to decide if he is mentally fit to stand trial," he told AP.

 

A Western diplomat, also declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case, said questions were being raised as to whether Rahman would stay in Afghanistan or go into exile in a foreign country.

 

Rahman was being prosecuted under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

 

Some Islamic clerics had said Rahman would face danger from his countrymen if he were released.

 

Earlier Sunday he was moved to a notorious maximum-security prison outside Kabul that is also home to hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida militants. The move to Policharki Prison came after detainees threatened his life at an overcrowded police holding facility in central Kabul, a court official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

 

Gen. Shahmir Amirpur, who is in charge of Policharki, confirmed the move and said Rahman had also been begging his guards to provide him with a Bible.

 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Karzai last Thursday and asked for a "favorable resolution" to the case. Karzai also heard from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged Rahman's release out of respect for religious freedom.

 

The pope used the case Sunday to talk about Christians around the world who are persecuted for their beliefs.

 

"My thoughts turn, in particular, to those communities who live in countries where there is a lack of religious freedom, or where despite claims on paper, they in truth are subjected to many restrictions," the pontiff said as he delivered his traditional Sunday blessing from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square.

 

"I send them my warmest encouragement to persevere in the patience and charity of Christ," Benedict added.