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Afghan Christian convert could face death
Kabul - An Afghan man detained for converting to Christianity could face the death penalty if he refuses to become Muslim again, police and a judge said on Sunday.
Abdul Rahman was detained two weeks ago after his relatives reported to the police about his conversion which is forbidden under Islamic Sharia law.
"Yes that's true, a man has converted to Christianity. He's being tried in one of our courts," Supreme Court judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said, adding that his trial began early last week.
He said the man could face the death penalty if he refused to revert to Islam as Sharia law proposes capital punishment for any Muslim who converts to another religion.
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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1142776621938B212
"Yes that's true, a man has converted to Christianity. He's being tried in one of our courts," Supreme Court judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said, adding that his trial began early last week.
He said the man could face the death penalty if he refused to revert to Islam as Sharia law proposes capital punishment for any Muslim who converts to another religion.
More
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1142776621938B212
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Despite the fact the hardline Taliban regime is no longer in power, an Afghan man faces possible execution for allegedly abandoning his Islamic roots and becoming a Christian.
"Yes that's true, a man has converted to Christianity. He's being tried in one of our courts," Supreme Court judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada told the Middle East Times.
The case centers on Abdul Rahman, believed to be 41, who converted from Islam to Christianity some 16 years ago. His relatives reportedly notified authorities about the conversion.
The constitution in Afghanistan is based on Shariah law, which states any Muslim who rejects his or her religion should be sentenced to death.
"We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law," the judge told the Associated Press. "It is an attack on Islam. ... The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty."
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http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49345
Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could face the death sentence under Sharia law unless he recants.
He converted 16 years ago as an aid worker helping refugees in Pakistan. His estranged family denounced him in a custody dispute over his two children.
It is thought to be Afghanistan's first such trial, reflecting tensions between conservative clerics and reformists.
Conservatives still dominate the Afghan judiciary four years after the Taleban were overthrown.
The BBC's Mike Donkin in Kabul says reformists, like the government under President Hamid Karzai, want a more liberal, secular legal system but under the present constitution it is hard for them to intervene.
'Tolerance'
Afghanistan's post-Taleban constitution is based on Sharia law, and prosecutors in the case says this means Abdul Rahman, whose trial began last Thursday, should be put to death.
When he was arrested last month he was found to be carrying a bible and charged with rejecting Islam which is punishable by death in Afghanistan.
Trial judge Ansarullah Mawlazezadah told the BBC that Mr Rahman, 41, would be asked to reconsider his conversion, which he made while working for a Christian aid group in Pakistan.
"We will invite him again because the religion of Islam is one of tolerance. We will ask him if he has changed his mind. If so we will forgive him," the judge told the BBC on Monday.
But if he refused to reconvert, then his mental state would be considered first before he was dealt with under Sharia law, the judge added.
He said he expected the case to take about two months to be heard.
Precedent
The Afghan Human Rights Commission has called for a better balance in the judiciary, with fewer judges advocating Sharia law and more judges with a wider legal background.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4823874.stm
"If this news is confirmed, Italy will move at the highest level ... to prevent something which is incompatible with the defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms," said a Foreign Ministry statement cited by Reuters.
Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Italy would raise the issue with European Union leaders in an effort to save the man.
Abdur Rahman,41 , was arrested last month after his relatives reported his conversion to Christianity to the police.
The man, who converted 16 years ago as an aid worker helping refugees in Pakistan, is now on trial and could face the death penalty if refusing to revert to Islam.
Germany earlier condemned the persecution of Rahman as "intolerable" and appealed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to save him from the death penalty, citing his right to religious freedom.
The United States is watching the trial closely as a test of democracy and religious freedom for the Kabul government, one of its key allies.
"Our view certainly ... is that tolerance, freedom of worship, is an important element of any democracy," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday.
Afghanistan's constitution states: "No law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam."
Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi had said that all Muslim jurists agree that the apostate is to be punished. However, they differ regarding the punishment itself.
Well-known Azharite scholar Sheikh `Abdul-Majeed Subh had said that the punishment for apostasy is dependent on the public interest of the Muslim nation and the assessment of scholars to each case.
"If the apostate does not harm the Muslim society, there may be no need for killing him."
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-03/21/article09.shtml
That was supposed to change after U.S.-led forces ousted the oppressive, fundamentalist regime, but the case of 41-year-old Abdul Rahman has many Western nations wondering if Afghanistan is regressing.
Rahman, a father of two, was arrested last week and is now awaiting trial for rejecting Islam. He told local police, whom he approached on an unrelated matter, that he had converted to Christianity. Reports say he was carrying a Bible at the time.
"They want to sentence me to death, and I accept it," Rahman told reporters last week, "but I am not a deserter and not an infidel."
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http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/21/afghan.christian/index.html
"We have got influence in Afghanistan and we are going to use it," Bush said in a speech on Wednesday, March22 , reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another."
Abdur Rahman,41 , was arrested last month in Afghanistan after his relatives reported his conversion to Christianity to the police.
The man, who converted 16 years ago as an aid worker helping refugees in Pakistan, is now on trial and could face the death penalty if refusing to revert to Islam.
The US, which invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to topple the Taliban regime, has said it was watching Abdur Rahman's trial as a test of democracy and religious freedom for the Kabul government.
UN Rift
The United Nations has also joined the chorus, warning of a rift with Kabul over the issue.
Tom Koenigs, the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan, said Thursday, March23 , he was confident that the man would not be executed.
"The case of Abdur Rahman would be resolved quite soon", Koenigs, German, told Deutschlandradio Kultur.
Afghanistan had signed up to human rights conventions, human rights were enshrined in its constitution and the United Nations expected it to adhere to those principles, he added.
The Italian government summoned on Tuesday, March21 , the Afghan ambassador to Rome to express its concern over the issue and threatened to take the case to the upcoming European summit.
Germany also condemned the persecution as "intolerable" and appealed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to save Rahman.
Adamant
Afghanistan's Supreme Court, however, remained adamant on Thursday in the face of mounting Western pressures.
"This is a sensitive issue -- we are trying our best to handle it quickly," Ansarullah Mawlavizada, the judge dealing with the case, told AFP.
He said efforts were under way to persuade Abdur Rahman to convert back to Islam.
"We are trying our best to persuade the man to convert back to Islam."
He, however, said that if the man did not revert back to Islam, "he's going to receive the death penalty, according to the law."
A Supreme Court spokesman has said that Abdur Rahman may be mentally unfit to stand trial and would be subjected to psychological testing.
Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi said that Islam does not execute the apostate who does not proclaim his apostasy or call for it. Rather, it leaves the punishment for the Hereafter if he dies in the state of apostasy.
Mohammad Salim Al-`Awwa, secretary general of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, stated that the Noble Qur'an did not specify a worldly punishment for apostasy.
The Qur'anic verses talking about apostasy only warned of a punishment for the apostate in the Hereafter, he said echoing Qaradawi's stance.
"Although we admit that apostasy is a crime, I doubt that the punishment mentioned by some classical jurists in the books of jurisprudence for apostasy is the capital punishment. I further doubt to include this form of punishment as a legal punishment prescribed by the Shari`ah.
"I am of the opinion that the punishment for apostasy is a discretionary one that is wholly left to concerned authorities to apply in the Muslim State," said Awwa.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-03/23/article03.shtml
In an unusual move, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned President Hamid Karzai on Thursday seeking a "favorable resolution" of the case of Abdul Rahman. The 41-year-old former medical aid worker faces the death penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for becoming a Christian.
His trial has fired passions in this conservative Muslim nation and highlighted a conflict of values between Afghanistan and its Western backers.
"Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die," said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is considered a moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban before the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001.
The trial, which began last week, has caused an international outcry.
More
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/03/23/afghan.christian.ap/index.html
The case is sensitive for Karzai who is seen as a modernizer but who cannot ignore the views of conservative proponents of Islamic law or appear to bow too readily to outside pressure or interfere with the judiciary.
Rahman told a preliminary hearing last week he had become a Christian while working for an aid group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan 15 years ago.
He was detained after his family informed authorities he had converted, apparently following a family dispute, a judicial official said.
A government minister bemoaned the sudden and strong international reaction but said a solution could be found.
"Time should have been given to Afghans. It was a sudden issue for us, too, so more deliberation could have been done," said Economy Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang.
"A way should be found to solve this that does not harm Afghanistan's national integrity ... and the values enshrined in our constitution, or destroy international trust in Afghanistan."
A prosecutor has raised questions about Rahman's mental state and a judge said that could be taken into account.
Rahman, who has denied he is mentally unstable, has not been charged. A judge said on Friday legal proceedings were expected to begin next week.
Some Afghans believe Rahman is part of a Christian plot.
"He has been sent by Christian priests to convert others," said Ramatullah, a trader in the southern city of Kandahar. "He has sold out his religion and should be punished."
A cleric and member of parliament from Badakhshan province in the north said Rahman should be executed. "It would be better to get no aid or military help from the West for 100 years than accept this affront," said Sadullah Abu Aman.
More
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060324/ts_nm/religion_afghan_dc
Abdul Rahman's case has been handed back to the attorney-general because of gaps in the evidence, an official said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said that while the attorney-general looked at the papers, Mr Rahman did not need to be detained.
Mr Rahman, a Christian for 16 years, was charged with rejecting Islam and potentially faced the death penalty.
Afghanistan's legal system is built on Islamic Sharia law, and Mr Rahman could have faced execution if he had refused to renounce Christianity.
Karzai concerned
The Afghan government has come under increasing pressure over the case, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul.
Key international backers of President Hamid Karzai have called for Mr Rahman's release, while Muslim conservatives in Afghanistan are in favour of his detention.
Mr Karzai has personally intervened in the case and several top level meetings have been held over the past two days to resolve the issue.
Details of his imminent release are being kept secret, as feelings in Kabul have run high over the case.
'Mental issues'
Earlier, Mr Rahman's family asked the court to dismiss the case against him, saying he suffered from mental illness.
Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada told the BBC there was considerable doubt that Mr Rahman was fit to stand trial.
According to Judge Mawlavizada, Mr Rahman appeared "disturbed".
He said the accused man's relatives had told the authorities he was insane and that they claimed Mr Rahman had said he heard strange voices in his head.
The judge also said it was not clear if the accused was really an Afghan or a citizen of another country.
Mr Rahman has lived outside Afghanistan for 16 years and is believed to have converted to Christianity during a stay in Germany.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4847342.stm
Mr Rahman, a Christian for 16 years, was charged with rejecting Islam but his case was dismissed because of gaps in evidence, Afghan officials said.
A UN spokesman said he expected asylum would be granted by a country "interested in a peaceful solution".
Several hundred people protested on Monday against the case's dismissal.
Execution call
UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said the organisation was working with the Afghan government to solve the asylum issue.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4851244.stm
About 1,000 people gathered in a mosque in the northeastern town of Kunduz on Sunday and demanded that Abdul Rahman, 40, be brought back from Italy and sentenced to death.
Sheikh Mohammad Baqir, a cleric and organiser of the rally, said: "This act of the government is illegal," referring to Abdul Rahman's release.
"Either he should be tried or the government should go. We urge other provinces to raise their voices and if the government doesn't listen, we will resort to violence," he said, attracting calls of "Allah akbar" (God is the greatest) from the crowd.
Police refused to let the gathering leave the mosque and march through the town, for fear of it turning violent.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BDBBFC0A-AEEB-4023-8B97-6F4A515CD965.htm