The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who leads the Church of England's dialogue with Islam, told The Times: "I'm amazed that the constitution that has been agreed in post-Taleban Aghanistan under the very eyes of the international community should allow this kind of thing to take place -- for a person to be arrested for having been converted 14 years ago and to be threatened with execution simply for his beliefs. "The British Army in Afghanistan is losing soldiers there through injury and death. Is the Army there to uphold this kind of thing? I thought we were there to promote democracy and freedom."
Welcome aboard UK...now if the U.S. will please sign in and let us know its position.
The United States, which counts Afghan President Hamid Karzai as a key ally in the region, raised the case with visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, calling on Kabul to uphold Afghan citizens' constitutional right to choose their faith."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," said Nicholas Burns, the State Department's third-ranked diplomat. ...
"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," Burns told reporters, flanked by Abdullah.
Abdullah said his government had "nothing to do" with the judicial case, but added: "I hope that through our constitutional process, there will be a satisfactory result."
U.S. and allies press Afghanistan on Christian convert
By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent