Posted on 03/22/2006 10:39:01 AM PST by areafiftyone
Cam Edwards of OnTap e-mailed me yesterday with an excellent idea--a rally for Abdul Rahman outside the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C. Thanks to the D.C. Freepers, a permit has been submitted to the D.C. police.
Cam reports:
The way it works is the D.C. Police only contact you if there’s a problem. As of now, there’s been no contact by the police, so it looks like the rally is a go.
Please join us if you can (and if you can't, why not organize an event/prayer service/etc. in your own neighborhood?):
Friday March 24
Noon to 1pm
Outside the Afghan Embassy
2341 Wyoming Ave NW.
Washington DC
More action items at Freedom's Zone.
***
In case you missed it below, here was President Bush's tepid statement earlier today about Rahman's plight:
I'm troubled when I hear, deeply troubled when I hear, the fact that a person who has converted away from Islam may be held to account. That's not the universal application of the values that I talked about. I look forward to working with the government of that country to make sure that people are protected in their capacity to worship.
"Held to account?"
What the...???
Cam Edwards said this on his blog, "Abdul Rahman’s been on my mind a lot over the past couple of days, so last night I emailed Michelle and asked her what she thought about a rally in support of Rahman outside the Afghan Embassy in D.C. She thought it was a great idea.
"Because a) I don’t want anybody thinking that this is an official function of my day job and b) they’re really good at stuff like this, I contacted the DC Chapter of Free Republic."
Kristinn, Cam and Michelle have been in contact with one another this morning, and we have a permit application filed with MPDC for this Friday. I have confirmed with MPDC that all is OK with our application. The event is officially a "GO."
From Michelle's blog, here are the particulars:
Friday March 24
Noon to 1pm
Outside the Afghan Embassy
2341 Wyoming Ave NW.
Washington DC
Please join us on Friday if you can.
As always, the DC Chapters Rules for protesting apply.
Briefly they are: No violence. No profanity. No racism. No provocations. Obey the law. Treat all law enforcement officers with respect.
DC Chapter ping.
Wish I lived in Washington D.C. you get to go to the best Rallies!
FYI...
I'll be in town, ya know...
On another note...I guess this new Afghani government isn't exactly "free" either.
BUMP
Looks like we may have our rally after all!
Bump!
BTTT!
Enough publicity I don't think they'll kill the guy-
As you see from this article the prosecution is already looking for a way out-
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan man facing a possible death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.
Abdul Rahman, 41, has been charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under this country's Islamic laws. His trial started last week and he confessed to becoming a Christian 16 years ago. If convicted, he could be executed.
But prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari said questions have been raised about his mental fitness.
"We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person," he told The Associated Press.
Moayuddin Baluch, a religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, said Rahman would undergo a psychological examination.
"Doctors must examine him," he said. "If he is mentally unfit, definitely Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven. The case must be dropped."
It was not immediately clear when he would be examined or when the trial would resume. Authorities have barred attempts by the AP to see Rahman and he is not believed to have a lawyer.
A Western diplomat in Kabul and a human rights advocate — both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter — said the government was desperately searching for a way to drop the case because of the reaction it has caused.
The United States, Britain and other countries that have troops in Afghanistan have voiced concern about Rahman's fate.
The Bush administration Tuesday issued a subdued appeal to Kabul to let Rahman practice his faith in safety. German Roman Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann said the trial sent an "alarming signal" about freedom of worship in Afghanistan.
The case is believed to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan and highlights a struggle between religious conservatives and reformists over what shape Islam should take there four years after the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban regime.
Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which is interpreted by many Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death. The state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has called for Rahman to be punished, arguing he clearly violated Islamic law.
The case has received widespread attention in Afghanistan where many people are demanding Rahman be severely punished.
"For 30 years, we have fought religious wars in this country and there is no way we are going to allow an Afghan to insult us by becoming Christian," said Mohammed Jan, 38, who lives opposite Rahman's father, Abdul Manan, in Kabul. "This has brought so much shame."
Rahman is believed to have converted from Islam to Christianity while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
He then moved to Germany for nine years before returning to Kabul in 2002, after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime.
Police arrested him last month after discovering him in possession of a Bible during questioning over a dispute for custody of his two daughters. Prosecutors have offered to drop the charges if Rahman converts back to Islam, but he has refused.
Bump.
Additionally, as the Danish Foreign Minister pointed out (Thank you again, Denmark!) the Constitution of Afghanistan requires freedom of religion, so that the prosecution of Abdul Rahman, and others like him, is illegal as well as unconscionable.
With you in spirit.
Relevant parts of transcript with link to the whole thing, for those who lack bandwidth or inclination to view the clip.
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 22, 2006Remarks by the President
Capitol Music Hall Wheeling, West VirginiaAfghanistan -- I went there with Laura. We had a good visit with President Karzai. I like him -- good man. You can imagine what it's like to try to rebuild a country that had been occupied and then traumatized by the Taliban. They're coming around. They got elections. They had assembly elections. He, himself, was elected. We expect them to honor the universal principle of freedom. I'm troubled when I hear -- deeply troubled when I hear the fact that a person who has converted away from Islam may be held to account. That's not the universal application of the values that I talked about. Look forward to working with the government of that country to make sure that people are protected in their capacity to worship.
There's still a Taliban element trying to come and hurt people. But the good news is, not only do we have great U.S. troops there, but NATO is now involved. One of my jobs is to continue to make sure that people understand the benefits of a free society emerging in a neighborhood that needs freedom. And so I'm pleased with the progress, but I fully understand there's a lot more work to be done. ...
Q And back during 9/11, I lost over 300 of my brothers in New York. And I was glad that you were our President at that time and took the fight to the terrorists. But as I see you, I said earlier about the guy in Afghanistan that is going to convert to Christianity, he may get killed over there for doing that. Do you have an army of sociologists to go over there and change that country, or are you hoping that in a couple decades that we can change the mind-set over there?
THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate the question. It's a very legitimate question. We have got influence in Afghanistan and we are going to use it to remind them that there are universal values. It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another. And so we are -- we will make -- part of the messaging just happened here in Wheeling. I want to thank you for that question.
No, I think it's -- we can solve this problem by working closely with the government that we've got contacts with -- and will. We'll deal with this issue diplomatically and remind people that there is something as universal as being able to choose religion.
So thank you for the question. I understand your concerns. I share the same concerns.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060322-3.html
Looks like you can hike in from Dupont Circle if your Metro bound.
PING.
By the President's quotes you posted, it is discernable that he sees the pickle he's in. Unless we on FR want to push for the Afghan government to be subordinate to ours -- i.e. a puppet regime -- America cannot order another sovereign regime to change its laws.
It's good that the present Afghan gov't is sensitive to international pressure; that in itself distinguishes it from the Taliban. So they may try for this insanity tack as a means to get out of this mess w/o giving the appearance of surrendering its sovereignty to outsiders.
But the fact remains that Islam is the One True Religion worshipping the One True God in that part of the world. Given that we're talking about comparing serving the finite as opposed to the Infinite, many Muslims have no conception of separating Church and State.
We're not that far removed from the Divine Right of Kings ourselves, remember.
We must therefore be realistic and not expect countries from which we remove dictators to elect governments that are going to respect the same set of rights that we do. In order for that to happen, we would have to perform radical surgery upon their entire culture, which would likely take a generation or more.
We don't have the belly for that. Instead, we will have to hope that the relentless pressures of globalization will eventually impel the Muslims to abandon ways that serve to keep them at a disadvantage.
Look at the painful transition that France is enduring because they still cannot accept that to be competitive, their attitude toward markets and employment must change.
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