[Marxism] Under US, int'l pressure, Afghan court drops case against Christian

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

New York Times
March 26, 2006

Afghan Court Drops Case Against Christian

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:08 a.m. ET

KABUL,
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritorie
s/afghanistan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> Afghanistan (AP) -- An Afghan
court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam
to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released
soon, officials said.

The announcement came as U.S.-backed President
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/hamid_karz
ai/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Hamid Karzai faced mounting foreign
pressure to free Abdul Rahman, a move that risked angering Muslim
clerics here who have called for him to be killed.

An official closely involved with the case told The Associated Press
that it had been returned to the prosecutors for more investigation, but
that in the meantime, Rahman would be released.

''The court dismissed today the case against Abdul Rahman for a lack of
information and a lot of legal gaps in the case,'' the official said
Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized
to speak publicly on the matter.

''The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow,'' the
official added. ''They don't have to keep him in jail while the attorney
general is looking into the case.''

Abdul Wakil Omeri, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, confirmed that the
case had been dismissed because of ''problems with the prosecutors'
evidence.''

He said several of Rahman's family members have testified that the
41-year-old has mental problems. ''It is the job of the attorney
general's office to decide if he is mentally fit to stand trial,'' he
told AP.

A Western diplomat, also declining to be identified because of the
sensitivity of the case, said questions were being raised as to whether
Rahman would stay in Afghanistan or go into exile in a foreign country.

Secretary of State
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/condoleezz
a_rice/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Condoleezza Rice said she could not
confirm that an Afghan court had dismissed the case and stressed the
U.S. needs to respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan, which she called a
''young democracy.''

''We have our history of conflicts that had to be worked out after a new
constitution. And so the Afghans are working on it. But America has
stood solidly for religious freedom as a bedrock, the bedrock, of
democracy, and we'll see.'' Rice said Sunday on NBC's ''Meet the
Press.''

Asked if American Christian missionaries should be encouraged to go to
Afghanistan, Rice said: ''I think that Afghans are pleased to get the
help that they can get'' but added ''we need to be respectful of Afghan
sovereignty.''

Rahman has been prosecuted under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for
converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an
international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He
was arrested last month and charged with apostasy.

Muslim clerics had threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if the
government freed him. They said he clearly violated Islamic Shariah law
by rejecting Islam.

The case against Rahman put Karzai in an awkward position.

While the U.S., Britain and other countries that prop-up his government
have demanded the trial be dropped, Karzai has had to be careful not to
offend Islamic sensibilities at home and alienate religious
conservatives who wield considerable power.

Rahman had been held at a detention facility in central Kabul since his
arrest, but he was moved to the notorious Policharki Prison just outside
Kabul on Friday after threats were made against him by other inmates,
prison warden Gen. Shahmir Amirpur told AP.

Policharki, a high-security prison housing some 2,000 inmates, including
about 350
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/t/tal
iban/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Taliban and al-Qaida militants who were
blamed for inciting a riot there late last month that killed six people.

''We are watching him constantly. This is a very sensitive case so he
needs high security,'' he said in an interview in his office in a
crumbling building inside the jail.

Rahman is being held in a cell by himself next to the office of a senior
prison guard, the warden said. He showed the AP the outside of Rahman's
cell door, but refused to allow reporters to speak to him or see him.

He said Rahman had been asking guards for a Bible but that they did not
have any to give him.

Rahman, meanwhile, said he was fully aware of his choice and was ready
to die for it, according to an interview published Sunday in an Italian
newspaper La Repubblica.

''I am serene. I have full awareness of what I have chosen. If I must
die, I will die,'' Abdul Rahman told the Rome daily, responding to
questions sent to him via a human rights worker who visited him in
prison.

''Somebody, a long time ago, did it for all of us,'' he added in a clear
reference to Jesus.

Rahman also told the Italian newspaper that his family -- including his
ex-wife and teenage daughters -- reported him to the authorities three
weeks ago.

He said he made his choice to become a Christian ''in small steps,''
after he left Afghanistan 16 years ago. He moved to Pakistan, then
Germany. He tried to get a visa in Belgium.

''In Peshawar I worked for a humanitarian organization. They were
Catholics,'' Rahman said. ''I started talking to them about religion, I
read the Bible, it opened my heart and my mind.''


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