Posted on 03/23/2006 5:03:06 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
The government of Afghanistan is trying to find a way to avoid handing down a death penalty to a man who converted from Islam to Christianity, sources said Wednesday.
A top government official and an official from the presidential palace both said that Abdul Rahman, 42, would not be put to death for his religious conversion. The government is trying to find a graceful way out of a sensitive situation, perhaps by saying that Rahman is mentally ill and cannot stand trial.
The Afghan Embassy in Washington announced on Wednesday that the country's judicial system is evaluating Rahman's mental fitness, the result of which could end the court proceedings.
"That would be some kind of face-saving measure for the government," said the government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
This is a hopeful sign that the convert in question can leave Afghanistan unharmed.
"The government of Afghanistan is trying to find a way to avoid handing down a death penalty"
Change the stupid law.
You said -- "This is a hopeful sign that the convert in question can leave Afghanistan unharmed."
Well, that's not quite the proper resolution -- "You're crazy! You can leave."
In other words, that doesn't really settle the issue at stake here, which is -- "Can one convert from Islam to any other religion and not be subject to the Islamic requirement of death?"
That's the issue. That has to be settled in the proper way. I certainly hope they don't say that he was crazy and that's why he can go. That means that the next Christian that comes along may not be crazy (when no one is looking) and be executed.
Regards,
Star Traveler
If he's found "mentally ill", I doubt they will release him. More likely they will use psychotherapy ( torture ) to make him well again ( re-embrace Islam ).
Hey Afghan government, here's a novel idea: Exercise your right to a monopoly on violence and throw the religious judiciary in jail. Face them down and show the world who's on top in Afghanistan!
There may be one other issue at stake here, too. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think I read -- somewhere -- that he came back to Afghanistan to get two daughters to take back with him. This may *really* be about Islam not wanting to give up the two daughters -- as they may believe he'll try to convert them to Christianity. That *really* would be abhorrent to them, in that case.
And that also may be the reason that his own relatives turned him in to the authorities. That's because *he* would have the primary rights to take the daughters. They don't want to give them up to an *Infidel* -- you see...
But, I can't remember where I read that. Perhaps someone else can find out that information.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Problem solved.
There are other factors at work. Abdul Rahman did not become a Christian under the present regime. He converted 16 years ago while overseas. I'm not even sure that he's a citizen of Afghanistan. His conversion was revealed to local officials during a custody dispute with some native relatives. So even if they resolved this in a different way, it would not necessarily protect those who converted while living under the rule of the present government.
Death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity is bad enough. I wonder what the penalty would be if someone became a Jew?
Is the Afghan gov't secular?
I see it was REALLY worth "liberating" this country from the TALIBAN...
...to hand it over to these guys!
BRAVO!
All we did was go from Taliban Extra Strength to Taliban Lite.
We'll see.
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