Share this story!            

R E G I O N: Afghanistan under pressure to free Christian convert

WASHINGTON: International pressure mounted on Afghanistan on Wednesday over the case of a man who faces the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity.

The United States and its NATO allies Germany and Italy, all of whom have troops in war-scarred Afghanistan, expressed concern at the continuing trial of convert Abdul Rahman.

The case is being seen as a test of freedom for key US ally Afghanistan, where religion retains a tight grip on society four years after the toppling of the Islamist Taliban regime. Rahman, 41, is believed to be the first convert accused in Afghanistan under strict Islamic Sharia law for refusing to return to Islam. Afghan Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada told AFP that Rahman converted 16 years ago while working for an unidentified Christian aid organisation in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The case has sparked outrage in many western countries. US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said on Tuesday that it concerned broader freedoms, which he said were enshrined in Afghan statutes.

“We believe in universal freedoms and freedom of religion is one of them. But I should also note more particularly, as regards this case, that the Afghan constitution as we understand it also provides for freedom of religion.” But Burns suggested that Washington would not try to impose its will in the controversial case. “We hope that the Afghan constitution is going to be upheld and in our view if it is upheld, he will be found to be innocent.”

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told a joint press conference with Burns in Washington that Kabul’s Embassy in the US capital had received “hundreds of messages” on the case. In the government’s first comment on the case, President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman insisted that Afghanistan respects human rights. “This case was brought by his family to justice and is handled by the judiciary, which is independent,” spokesman Khaleeq Ahmad told AFP. “But the government of Afghanistan is still committed to the respect of human rights”. The Supreme Court is regarded as a bastion of conservatism.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday that freedom of worship and tolerance were important for any democracy. “These are issues, as Afghan democracy matures, that they are going to have to deal with increasingly,” he said. AFP

Home | Foreign

Share this story!