KABUL (AFP) - International pressure is mounting on Afghanistan over the case of a man who faces the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity.
The trial of Abdul Rahman is being billed 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 fundamentalist Taliban regime.
Washington says it is watching closely how Kabul deals with Rahman, 41, who is believed to be the first convert accused in Afghanistan under strict Islamic Sharia law for refusing to become Muslim again.
Germany, where Rahman reportedly lived for nine years before returning to his war-scarred homeland, has called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to step in and save him.
Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada told AFP that Rahman converted 16 years ago while working for a Christian aid organisation in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. He did not name the group.
The case has sparked outrage in many Western countries, with US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Monday urging the Afghan authorities to deal with the proceedings transparently and according to the rule of law.
"Our view certainly ... is that tolerance, freedom of worship, is an important element of any democracy," he said. "These are issues, as Afghan democracy matures, that they are going to have to deal with increasingly."
McCormack said Afghanistan, which has become a major ally in Washington's war on the Al-Qaeda network, was debating varying constitutional interpretations of religious freedom.
Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, told journalists Tuesday the case concerned broader freedoms, which he said were enshrined in the 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."
"While ... we certainly 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."
But Burns suggested that Washington would not try to impose its will in the controversial case.
"This is a case that is not under the competence of the United States. It is under the competence of the Afghan authorities," Burns said.
"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 said at a joint press conference with Burns in Washington that Kabul's embassy in the US capital had received "hundreds of messages" on the case.
German secretary of state for defence Friedbert Pflueger told Bild newspaper on Tuesday that Rahman's persecution was "intolerable".
He added that Germany had contributed 2,450 soldiers to the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan to help it "become a democratic country, not so that people can be sentenced to death on religious grounds."
Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul told Bild newspaper that religious freedom was "everybody's right" and urged Karzai to step in.
Rahman was arrested just over two weeks ago when his parents informed the police about his conversion after he came back from Germany, judge Mawlavizada said.
He said that at the first session of his trial, Rahman confessed to converting to Christianity and said that he "had no regrets".
The second session, when Rahman will have to present his defence, will be held within two months.
"If he doesn't revert back to Islam, he's going to receive the death penalty, according to the law," Mawlavizada said. Only one person has been executed in Afghanistan since 2001.
"If he reverts, the court has two solutions: either to forgive him, or to give him minor punishments."
Afghanistan became a byword for medieval punishments under the Taliban regime, with women being stoned to death for adultery and thieves having their hands chopped off.
The hardline movement was toppled by a US-led military operation in late 2001 for failing to hand over Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Since then the world community has been trying to steer Karzai's government towards creating a Western-style democracy and justice system.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006032...U9vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
The trial of Abdul Rahman is being billed 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 fundamentalist Taliban regime.
Washington says it is watching closely how Kabul deals with Rahman, 41, who is believed to be the first convert accused in Afghanistan under strict Islamic Sharia law for refusing to become Muslim again.
Germany, where Rahman reportedly lived for nine years before returning to his war-scarred homeland, has called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to step in and save him.
Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada told AFP that Rahman converted 16 years ago while working for a Christian aid organisation in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. He did not name the group.
The case has sparked outrage in many Western countries, with US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Monday urging the Afghan authorities to deal with the proceedings transparently and according to the rule of law.
"Our view certainly ... is that tolerance, freedom of worship, is an important element of any democracy," he said. "These are issues, as Afghan democracy matures, that they are going to have to deal with increasingly."
McCormack said Afghanistan, which has become a major ally in Washington's war on the Al-Qaeda network, was debating varying constitutional interpretations of religious freedom.
Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, told journalists Tuesday the case concerned broader freedoms, which he said were enshrined in the 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."
"While ... we certainly 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."
But Burns suggested that Washington would not try to impose its will in the controversial case.
"This is a case that is not under the competence of the United States. It is under the competence of the Afghan authorities," Burns said.
"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 said at a joint press conference with Burns in Washington that Kabul's embassy in the US capital had received "hundreds of messages" on the case.
German secretary of state for defence Friedbert Pflueger told Bild newspaper on Tuesday that Rahman's persecution was "intolerable".
He added that Germany had contributed 2,450 soldiers to the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan to help it "become a democratic country, not so that people can be sentenced to death on religious grounds."
Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul told Bild newspaper that religious freedom was "everybody's right" and urged Karzai to step in.
Rahman was arrested just over two weeks ago when his parents informed the police about his conversion after he came back from Germany, judge Mawlavizada said.
He said that at the first session of his trial, Rahman confessed to converting to Christianity and said that he "had no regrets".
The second session, when Rahman will have to present his defence, will be held within two months.
"If he doesn't revert back to Islam, he's going to receive the death penalty, according to the law," Mawlavizada said. Only one person has been executed in Afghanistan since 2001.
"If he reverts, the court has two solutions: either to forgive him, or to give him minor punishments."
Afghanistan became a byword for medieval punishments under the Taliban regime, with women being stoned to death for adultery and thieves having their hands chopped off.
The hardline movement was toppled by a US-led military operation in late 2001 for failing to hand over Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Since then the world community has been trying to steer Karzai's government towards creating a Western-style democracy and justice system.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006032...U9vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
