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Posted on 03/28/2006 1:29:51 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Christian Convert Released From Prison
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writers
50 minutes ago
An Afghan man who had faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity has been released from prison after the case was dropped, the justice minister said Tuesday.
The announcement came after the United Nations said Abdul Rahman has appealed for asylum outside Afghanistan and that the world body was working to find a country willing to take him.
Justice Minister Mohammed Sarwar Danish told The Associated Press that the 41-year-old was released from the high-security Policharki prison on the outskirts of Kabul late Monday.
"We released him last night because the prosecutors told us to," he said. "His family was there when he was freed, but I don't know where he was taken."
Deputy Attorney General Mohammed Eshak Aloko told the AP that prosecutors had issued a letter calling for Rahman's release because "he was mentally unfit to stand trial." He also said he did not know where Rahman was staying but that he may be sent overseas for medical treatment.
Hours earlier, hundreds of clerics, students and others chanting "Death to Christians!" marched through the northern Afghan Mazar-i-Sharif to protest the court's decision Sunday to dismiss the case.
"Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it," said senior Cleric Faiez Mohammed, from the nearby northern city of Kunduz. "The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion."
Several Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying that he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.
Rahman was arrested last month after police discovered him with a Bible. He was put on trial last week for converting 16 years ago while he was a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He had faced the death penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws.
The case set off an outcry in the United States and other nations that helped oust the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001 and provide aid and military support for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. President Bush and others insisted Afghanistan protect personal beliefs.
U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards said Rahman has asked for asylum "outside Afghanistan."
"We expect this will be provided by one of the countries interested in a peaceful solution to this case," he said.
No country has yet offered asylum to Rahman, said an official familiar with the case who declined to be named because of its sensitivity.
Asked whether the U.S. government was doing anything to secure Rahman's safety after he is released, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that where he goes after he is freed "is going to be up to Mr. Rahman."
He urged Afghans not to resort to violence even if they are unhappy with the resolution of the case.
The international outrage over Rahman's case put Karzai in a difficult position because he also risked offending religious sensibilities in Afghanistan, where senior Muslim clerics have been united in calling for Raham to be executed.
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Barbara Streisand?:)
Bush should be overwhelmed by calls, to pull troops out now. There is no hope in trying to "modernize" or "reform" or "democratize" muslims.
As can lately and readily be seen, there is no reasonable hope that islam anywhere intends to "moderate."
Bush gave "religion of peace" a chance to be proved true, but it proved false.
Run from the enemy? Why? Easier to fight on our terms. For instance, the demolition of Mecca, Medina, and every mosque would send a powerful statement that Allah and Islam are impotent.
Rome destroyed Carthage. We should do the same.
Yep, to these clerics, she would look as repulsive as one of harpy sisters, and her songs, an painful shrieks.:) Anyway, their execution will be done.
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Yes. The evil Christians are attacking your religion by selflessly caring for the Muslim women and children in your squalid, overflowing refugee camps - like this poor brother did for the last decade of his life - something your "religion of peace" does not encourage. If the poor wretches die of starvation, "it is Allah's will," right?
I am so done with this peoples religion. The question becomes what to do with THEM! The only thing is to continue to pound away at the philosophy of their religion. A strategy that hasn't worked in the past. How does one deprogram 7 Islamic countries?
I fear the world doesn't have the courage for what needs to be done. "Death to Jews. Jewish name must be killed. Germany demands it. The Jewish foreigners occupying our land are attacking the Aryan race."
Now, why would anyone do that? Islam is so peaceful.
Islam is that peaceful religion that herds Christians into soccer stadiums in Indonesia and slaughters them.
Islam is that peaceful state religion in Saudi Arabia whose government outlaws the practice of Christianity.
The folks that destroy religious buildings and kill muslim men , woman, and children are called "Muslims"
I appreciate your point and I understand where its coming from. However we are not talking about shiite/Sunni deal here. There was and is very little of that in Afghanistan and in fact in the rest of the Moslem world where mosques are being blown up. Also it might be helpful to remember a lot of moslems are dying to try to defeat these extremist. I really don't understand how those deaths are so meaningless to so many people here or people refuse to recognize the valor and courage of those people.
Wait...is she the Jewish woman or the pig carcass..?
They should have all been shot on the spot. The Taliban will always live unless It's killed off.
Human genome upgrade needed.
With force. Those that will die for Islam will die, those that choose life will abandon it.
Now, if we could only smack some sense into Bush's head and get on with the task.
What planet are you from? Everywhere Islam goes and is, is full of death. Have you been sleeping for 1400 years? How about the last decade? What about Indonesia, Sudan, Algeria, Kosovo, Malaysia? The Philippines? Jordan, Egypt? Do you realize how many MILLIONS of Christians and others have died in the last decade alone?
"Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it," said senior Cleric Faiez Mohammed, from the nearby northern city of Kunduz. "The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion."
Several Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying that he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.
Democracy seems to be working well in Afghanistan. /sarcasm
Thank God this mans life was spared. I hope he gets out of that blood thirsty Islamic paradise soon.
Muslims don't deserve freedom or democracy. They deserve the iron jackboot of some murderous dictator on their necks forever, it fits right in with their religion.
Of course we can continue shedding the blood of our solders to free these animals but they will just jump into sharia and start burning Christians at the stake ASAP!
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