.- Abdul
Rahman was reportedly turned into Afghan authorities by his own family
for becoming Christian--an act which could subject him to death
according to that country’s strict Islamic laws.
Speaking in
Washington yesterday, Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah
said that while his government is largely staying out of the affair, he
hoped that "through our constitutional process there will be a
satisfactory result".
Mollie Zeigler,
a writer for the website GetReligion, wondered today if the world body,
particularly the U.S., was doing enough to see Rahman freed.
Many countries,
she wrote, “seem to be officially condemning the action more than US
officials have thus far. German and Italian officials have condemned
the human rights violation but at press time, the only words from
America’s executive branch came from the third-highest senior official
at the State Department.”
Nicholas Burns,
the diplomat in question said yesterday that “We hope that the Afghan
constitution is going to be upheld and in our view, if it’s upheld,
then of course he’ll be found to be innocent.”
He added that
“While we understand the complexity of a case like this and we
certainly will respect the sovereignty of the Afghan authorities and
the Afghan system, from an American point of view, people should be
free to choose their own religion.”
Many charge that
the U.S.--who recently helped establish a democratic government in
Afghanistan--should, in particular, be offering stronger words of
condemnation. As of press time, President Bush had made no comment on
the case.
“The Bush
administration”, Ziegler said, “may need to bring out a slightly bigger
gun — and slightly more compelling rhetoric — if it wants to help
Rahman. But why hasn’t Bush addressed the matter? And why aren’t
reporters asking him about it?”
Italy’s Foreign
Ministry has said that they are willing to “move at the highest
level... to prevent something which is incompatible with the defense of
human rights.”
According to the
Times of London, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada, who is handling the
case, said “It is a crime to convert to Christianity from Islam. He is
teasing and insulting his family by converting. In your country
(Britain) two women can marry; that is very strange. In this country we
have the perfect constitution, it is Islamic law and it is illegal to
be a Christian and it should be punished.”
Likewise,
according to the BBC, Afghan prosecutor…said that “He would have been
forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would
always remain one. We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against
our laws. He must get the death penalty.”
Sayad Miakhel, Rahman’s Afghan cellmate also spoke with The Times.
He told the
paper that Rahman “is standing by his words; he will not become a
Muslim again. He has been a Christian for over 14 years. It is what he
believes in.”
Adding that none of his family had come to visit, Miakhel added, “He seems depressed. He keeps looking up to the sky, to God.”
Rahman, a father
of two, told reporters last week that "They want to sentence me to
death, and I accept it…but I am not a deserter and not an
infidel."
