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Articles: Afghan convert 'may be released'

Posted by admin on Saturday, March 25, 2006 - 11:24 AM

Afghan government officials are meeting in the capital, Kabul, to discuss the fate of a man facing execution for converting to Christianity.

I am not a deserter and not an infidel

Abdul Rahman

Earlier, a senior government official told the BBC that the man, Abdul Rahman, "could be released soon". Mr Rahman is on trial charged with rejecting Islam. He could be executed under Sharia law unless he reconverts. The emergency meeting was called after growing international pressure on Afghanistan about the trial. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday: "This is appalling. When I saw the report about this I felt sick, literally." On Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai seeking a "favourable resolution" to the case. Mounting criticism Austria, current holders of the European Union's rotating presidency, said they would strive to protect Abdul Rahman.
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"We will leave no stone unturned to protect the fundamental rights of Abdul Rahman and to save his life," Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said. The criticism has prompted the Afghan government to intervene in the matter. But, the Afghan judiciary is dominated by religious conservatives, and many feel it will be difficult for the president and the government to confront the judiciary, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul says. The bigger problem confronting the president, however, may be that an overwhelming number of ordinary Afghans appear to believe Mr Rahman has erred and deserves to be executed, he says.

The trial reflects tensions between conservative clerics and reformists

On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that he had received assurance from President Karzai that Mr Rahman would not be executed. "He (Karzai) certainly conveyed to me that we don't have to worry about any such eventual outcome. "He had already spoken prior to my call to the attorney-general of Afghanistan about dealing with the situation," he told a news conference. 'I am not an infidel' Mr Rahman converted 16 years ago as an aid worker helping refugees in Pakistan. His estranged family denounced him during a custody dispute over his two children. His mental health was questioned by the judge earlier in the week and on Thursday prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari said there were doubts about whether he was fit to stand trial under Sharia law. But Mr Rahman told the court: "They want to sentence me to death and I accept it, but I am not a deserter and not an infidel. I am a Christian which means I believe in the Trinity." Observers say executing a converted Christian would be a significant precedent as a conservative interpretation of Sharia law in Afghanistan. Mr Rahman's is thought to be Afghanistan's first such trial, reflecting tensions between conservative clerics and reformists.

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