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G. Waleed Kavalec
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Why are we all in this handbasket
and where is it going so fast?
Afghanistan says court to decide fate of convert
By Sayed Salahuddin 18 minutes ago
Under mounting international pressure over the case of a man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity, Afghanistan said on Wednesday that its judiciary alone would decide the case.
U.S. President George W. Bush said he was deeply troubled by the case of Abdur Rahman, who an Afghan judge said this week had been jailed for converting from Islam to Christianity and could face the death penalty if he refused to become a Muslim again.
Death is one of the punishments stipulated by Sharia, or Islamic law, for apostasy. The Afghan legal system is based on a mix of civil and sharia law.
"We in Afghanistan have the prosecutor who observes the law and the court that executes it. Whatever the court orders will be executed as the court is independent," said Mahaiuddin Baluch, a religious affairs adviser to President Hamid Karzai.
Bush said in Wheeling, West Virginia: "It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another."
"We have got influence in Afghanistan and we are going to use it to remind them that there are universal values," he said.
The United States and three other NATO allies with troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday urged respect for religious freedom. German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice to those of Western leaders expressing concern.
In response, Afghan Economy Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang criticized the "heated and emotional reactions of German politicians" and said proposals there to withdraw German troops in protest amounted to blackmail against Karzai's government.
INTERFERENCE
"We don't interfere in Germany's internal affairs or in running court cases," he told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.
The case is sensitive for Karzai, who depends on foreign troops to battle Taliban and al Qaeda militants and foreign aid to support the economy. But he also has to consider the views of conservative proponents of Islamic law.
Asked about the international outcry, Baluch said, "Everybody has the right to express their view."
Rahman, 40, has not been formally charged yet.
He told a judge at a preliminary hearing last week he became a Christian while working for an aid group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan 15 years ago.
"I'm not an apostate. I'm obedient to God but I'm a Christian, that's my choice," Rahman told the hearing.
Washington, which counts Karzai as a key ally in the region, raised the case with the then visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday, calling on Kabul to uphold Afghan citizens' constitutional right to choose their faith.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic advocacy group, said Rahman's conversion was a personal matter and urged the Afghan government to release him.
Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini has said Rahman would probably not be executed.
Fini, whose country was one of four with troops in Afghanistan to speak out about the case, told Italian television on Tuesday he had indications the Islamic punishment for apostasy would not be imposed on Abdul Rahman.
"From what I've been told, and I have no reason to doubt it, the death sentence will not be carried out," said Fini. He gave no other details.
CONCERN EXPRESSED
The top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, said in a statement he was following the case with grave concern.
"It is my wish that Mr Rahman's legal and human rights will be upheld and that this matter does not create a rift between Afghanistan and its international partners," Koenigs said.
Freedom of religion, including the freedom to change one's religion, was enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Afghanistan had adhered to, he said.
Some officials have raised questions about Rahman's mental state, and Farhang said Rahman would not be executed if he were found to be unstable.
Germany and Canada, both of which also have troops in Afghanistan, have also raised their concern.
A political analyst in Kabul said the case might hinge on differing interpretations of the constitution.
Afghanistan is a conservative Islamic country and 99 per cent of its more than 25 million people are Muslim. A court sentenced two Afghan journalists to death for blasphemy three years ago but they escaped and sought asylum abroad.
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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