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Image of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in death released by U.S. military WASHINGTON – When Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, was killed today by 500-pound bombs dropped by two F-16 fighter jets on a house north of Baghdad, it was the result of intelligence information gathered, in part, by an elite task force of international special operations forces formed just a month ago with the express purpose of taking him out. The "A-Team" created for the mission drew on the skills and expertise of U.S. Army Green Berets, "Tier 1" of Britain's Special Air Service and the...

Abdul RahmanÂ’s sin of apostasy, which nearly earned him the death penalty, was resolved diplomatically with his expatriation to Italy. But the episode of RahmanÂ’s conversion to Christianity drew many reactions in the Muslim world. I had the opportunity to read hundreds of them in Arab-language forums, with comments coming from all over the world. Life and Death in Words To put it more precisely, I read nearly 400 comments posted on the al-Arabiya website, based in Dubai, and the Arab site of the BBC, where hundreds of [responses] were posted. Glancing through the comments, one can see that...

HAMBURG - Abdul Rahman, the Afghan whose prosecution for converting to Christianity led to worldwide controversy, was judged to be mentally unstable by German officials who interviewed him six years ago, a German news magazine reported Saturday. Defying Afghan Islamist politicians, Kabul officials released Abdul Rahman this week and he was whisked out of the country to asylum in Italy. The account in Der Spiegel backs up the Kabul officials' view that he was not mentally competent to be tried. Der Spiegel said there were accounts going back years of Abdul Rahman being violent and disturbed. In February 2000 he...

The case of Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman has attracted worldwide attention. Responding to international pressure, the government in Kabul has promised Rahman's release. But the case demonstrates that human rights continue to be in short supply in the Hindukush region, despite the fall of Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime five years ago. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, an elegant Pashtun and a member of the aristocratic Popalzai clan, isn't likely to forget the events of last week anytime soon. Ever since he took office just under four years ago, Karzai has been seen as an unmistakable darling of the West --...

An Afghan court has dismissed case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity for lack of evidence, an official said Sunday. The court, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, had been under intense international pressure to drop the case against Abdul Rahman, who faced a possible death sentence for his public conversion. Some Islamic clerics had called for his execution, saying Rahman would face danger from his countrymen if he were released. On Sunday, he was moved to a notorious maximum-security prison outside Kabul that is also home to hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida militants. The move to Policharki...

Breaking news from the Free Associative Press: KABUL March 25, 2006 (FAP) — In a turn of events that some observers are describing as “unexpected,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai today claimed resolution of what had seemed a dangerous and developing crisis concerning the fate of Abdul Rahman, a former Muslim who had been set to stand trial on the potentially capital charge of converting to Christianity. “Today,” announced Karzai, “I have declared that Afghanistan is now officially a Christian country. Therefore, it can be clear that there is no more problem for Mr. Rahman. ” Specifically, Karzai is declaring the...

A judge in Afghanistan said today that Abdul Rahman, the man charged with converting to Christianity, would face the death penalty, or worse, if convicted of the crime. “We could behead him and then throw the book at him,” said the judge presiding over the case, raising the specter that the punishment could include intentional abuse and damage to Mr. Rahman’s copy of the Bible. The threat to the Bible comes as retribution for reported incidents of Koran desecration last year by Americans at the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility. Those allegations sparked deadly Muslim riots worldwide. Meanwhile, state governors...

Rally for Abdul Rahman at Afghan Embassy From Michelle Malkin Hope you can make it to the Support Abdul Rahman event tomorrow outside the Afghan Embassy in Washington DC from noon to 1pm. Many religious activists and bloggers will be joining us–and in addition to honoring Rahman, it is also an opportunity for people of all faiths to come together and celebrate a precious cornerstone of Western civilization: religious freedom. Best, Michelle The rally for Abdul Rahman will take place at the Afghan Embassy in DC tomorrow at noon: Friday March 24 Noon to 1pm Outside the Afghan Embassy 2341...

FAITH UNDER FIRE Kabul may drop case, citing convert's depression Sources say Christian has suffered mentally but is 'strong' believer in Jesus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: March 23, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com While Afghan prosecutors, amid political pressure, apparently are trying to find a face-saving way to drop their case against a convert from Islam by calling him 'mad,' sources close to Abdul Rahman say that despite suffering bouts of depression, he has a strong, genuine faith in Jesus Christ. An aid worker who knew Rahman "very well" during her time of service in Peshawar, Pakistan, and asked not...

Michelle Malkin and Cam Edwards had an idea. They wanted to show their support for Abdul Rahman, the Afghani man now on trial in Afghanistan for being a convert to Christianity who is facing a possible death sentence if convicted. 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 the earlier announcement on Michelle's blog, here are the particulars: Friday March 24 Noon to 1pm...

RALLY FOR ABDUL RAHMAN By Michelle Malkin   ·   March 22, 2006 01:03 PM 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...

We should have no illusions that Afghanistan -- in many ways the backwater of the Islamic world -- will soon embrace Western-style religious pluralism. But the trial of Abdul Rahman, who faces a potential death sentence for converting to Christianity some 15 years ago, is an affront to civilization. If there is always a balancing act between accommodating the religious beliefs of a traditional society like Afghanistan and coaxing it toward reform, the Rahman case is not a close call -- killing or jailing someone for his religious beliefs is always wrong, and is especially galling in a country so...

Punishing apostasy Posted: March 21, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern Rahman was caught as he sought custody of two teenage daughters raised by their grandparents. He was found to be in possession of a Bible. Confessing to being a Christian convert, Rahman has refused to recant and reconvert to Islam, preferring to die a Christian. Under Sharia, strict Islamic law, a Muslim who rejects Islam is to be put to death. Rahman's prosecutor, Abdul Wisi, declared: "He would have been forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one. We are Muslims, and...

ABDUL RAHMAN, a 41-year-old Afghan, was a Muslim for 25 years before he began working for an international Christian group helping his fellow countrymen in Pakistan. Within a couple of years he had converted to Christianity. Fourteen years later, the decision may cost him his life. After four years in Peshawar Mr Rahman spent the next nine in Germany. His problems began when he returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and tried to recover his two daughters, now aged 13 and 14, who were living with his parents in Kabul. His parents refused to return them. The matter went to the...

WHO WILL SAVE ABDUL RAHMAN? By Michelle Malkin   ·   March 21, 2006 01:31 PM Italy and Germany have raised their voices: Italy has joined with Germany in protesting a death threat reportedly hanging over an Afghan who became a Christian in Germany and is now charged under Afghanistan's religious laws . The sharia laws, which rule many Muslim countries, forbid conversion to other religions on pain of death . Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini on Tuesday said Italy would raise the case of Abdul Rahman with the Afghan ambassador in Rome, European Union diplomatic representatives in Afghanistan and EU human...

A federal court will soon sentence attorney Lynne Stewart to prison for "providing material support" to terrorists, among related charges.[1] The charges center upon her assistance to Egyptian sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman who, from a federal prison cell in Minnesota, has continued his quest both to install an Islamist government in Egypt and to kill Americans and Jews around the world. Stewart's case is symbolic of a corollary battle in the war against terror and highlights the need not only to counter terrorism but also the ideology of Islamism. Her infatuation with her client's cause evolved into an example of...

The trial opened in Morocco on Monday of 34 suspected Islamic militants, including a French national said to be their leader, accused of involvement in the suicide bomb attacks in Casablanca in May that killed 45 people. Frenchman Pierre Robert and 33 Moroccan nationals are alleged by the prosecution to have formed "armed and well-organized criminal bands within Salafia Jihadia," the banned Islamic extremist group suspected of being behind the bombings in Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital. The accused - who face the death penalty if convicted - are charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to undermine state security, premeditated murder and...

America's real 'most wanted' Adnan el-Shukrijumah: The man commissioned to nuke U.S. Posted: September 6, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern Paul Williams, author of the new book, "The Al Qaeda Connection," has stirred a national controversy with his reporting on the imminent nuclear terror threat posed by Osama bin Laden. In this exclusive dispatch, the second of a two-part series first published in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, he details how some of the nuclear devices intended to create an American Hiroshima got here. Paul L. Williams © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Forget the FBI's "America's Most Wanted" list. The most dangerous fugitive in the U.S. is...

SFSU Hosts a TerroristBy Lee KaplanFrontPageMagazine.com | May 2, 2005 Lynne Stewart “Why can’t we get anyone but criminals to come here to SFSU and speak?” Robert Journey, treasurer of San Francisco State University College Republicans asked rhetorically as five members of the campus club met to attend a lecture by Lynne Stewart. The terrorist lawyer, who billed herself as a “Civil Rights Lawyer and Political Prisoner,” was recently convicted of conspiracy and for passing along fatwas (Islamic religious edicts) from Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to his terrorist followers in Egypt’s Islamic Group. Rahman is the blind sheikh responsible for...

One year ago, I wrote a piece exposing radical Islam within Florida Atlantic University (FAU). My goal was twofold: [1] to bring awareness concerning a growing problem within FAU [2] to push the university to take action so that this problem ceases to exist. Unfortunately, only the first part of my goal was accomplished, as FAU is continuing to allow radicals on its campus, the latest being this Saturday'S (Jan.22, 2005) return engagement of potential co-conspirator to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Siraj Wahhaj. The Enemy Thrives at FAU In recent times, a fairly large list of...