Afghan Christian Convert Freed, Seeks Asylum

"Abdul Rahman was released from a maximum security jail on the outskirts of the capital late Monday," Justice Minister Sarwar Danish told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday.

He said Abdul Rahman was released because there were problems with the case presented against him in court and doubts over his mental capacity to stand trial.

The time the courts had to start the trial against him had also lapsed, Danish said.

Prison and judicial officials would not say where Abdul Rahman had been taken. A UN source told AFP he was being held at a UN compound but the world body would not confirm this.

Officials said Abdul Rahman underwent tests Monday to assess his capacity to face trial after his relatives had said he was "mad". He himself admitted to hearing voices in his head, they said.

Deputy attorney general Mohammad Ishaq Aliko said Tuesday the courts were still awaiting the results of the tests.

"The case could be reopened if Abdul Rahman was found to be mentally fit to stand trial," he said.

Analysts say dropping the trial on grounds of Abdul Rahman's mental health would be one way to avoid escalating the dispute.

Rahman, 41 , was arrested last month after his relatives reported his conversion to Christianity to the police.

He converted 16 years ago in Pakistan and spent many years in Germany before returning to Afghanistan around2002 . He was facing the death penalty.

The case has provoked a storm of protest from many of the Western nations providing Afghanistan with military and financial support.

Asylum

The United Nations said late Monday that Abdul Rahman had asked to be given asylum outside Afghanistan.

"We expect that this will provided by one of the countries interested in a peaceful solution to this case," said spokesman Adrian Edwards.

A Western diplomat said the sensitivity of the case was making countries think twice about accepting Abdul Rahman.

"The public unhappiness seems to be very strong and any country that decides to take him in risks becoming a target of demonstrations, which no one wants," the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The United States said it "would support efforts to find him a safe haven."

"We are working with the appropriate authorities to ensure his well-being," embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said, urging the public to "remain calm and resist efforts to exploit this situation."

Authorities were meanwhile braced for more protests after about 200 people demonstrated in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif Monday to demand Rahman's execution for his apostasy.

"We want Islamic Shari`ah implemented, we want him executed," the men chanted.

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.

Qur'anic verses talking about apostasy only warned of a punishment for the apostate in the Hereafter, he said echoing Qaradawi's stance.

http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-03/28/article01.shtml