Supreme court judge Mawlavizada on March 19 holds a Bible that belongs to Abdul Rahman, who converted from Islam to Christianity. (REUTERS)
Posted on 03/19/2006 9:44:45 AM PST by cgk
This story deserves much more attention than it's getting. Via VOA News (hat tip: Doug at Below the Beltway):
An Afghan man who recently admitted he converted to Christianity faces the death penalty under the country's strict Islamic legal system. The trial is a critical test of Afghanistan's new constitution and democratic government.
The case is attracting widespread attention in Afghanistan, where local media are closely monitoring the landmark proceedings.
Abdul Rahman, 40, was arrested last month, accused of converting to Christianity. Under Afghanistan's new constitution, minority religious rights are protected but Muslims are still subject to strict Islamic laws. And so, officially, Muslim-born Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and not for practicing Christianity.
Appearing in court earlier this week Rahman insisted he should not be considered an infidel, but admitted he is a Christian. He says he still believes in the almighty Allah, but cannot say for sure who God really is. "I am," he says, "a Christian and I believe in Jesus Christ."
Rahman reportedly converted more than 16 years ago after spending time working in Germany. Officials say his family, who remain observant Muslims, turned him over to the authorities. On Thursday the prosecution told the court Rahman has rejected numerous offers to embrace Islam. Prosecuting attorney Abdul Wasi told the judge that the punishment should fit the crime.
He says Rahman is a traitor to Islam and is like a cancer inside Afghanistan. Under Islamic law and under the Afghan constitution, he says, the defendant should be executed. The court has ordered a delay in the proceedings to give Rahman time to hire an attorney. Under Afghan law, once a verdict is given, the case can be appealed twice to higher courts.
This is the first case in which the defendant has admitted to converting and is refusing to back down, even while facing the death penalty.
Here, via the Middle East Times, is the "evidence" against Rahman that may lead to his execution:
Supreme court judge Mawlavizada on March 19 holds a Bible that belongs to Abdul Rahman, who converted from Islam to Christianity. (REUTERS)
What do Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Bush have to say about the monstrous possibility that Rahman may be executed for professing faith in Jesus Christ and possessing a Bible?
So far, nothing.
What quotes does she supply from the Afghanistan Constitution?
So far, nothing.
From: The Afghanistan Constitution.
Article 1 [Islamic Republic]
Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary and indivisible state.
Article 2 [Religions]
(1) The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of IslamState_Religion.
(2) Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.
Article 3 [Law and Religion]
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.
Your post is fantastic!
"How do you solve a problem like... Shariah?"
his family, who remain observant Muslims, turned him over to the authorities"
They have a bigger problem than shariah.
You're living in a dream world
by trying to make every arab and muslim on the planet an active enemy combatant."
If you consider muslims who are not actively participating in the terrorist attacks, but support them an "active enemy combatant", then the only muslims who are not "active enemy combatants" are non-practiceing muslims.
He can take a shot at it.
I know people who are devout Muslims and the most wonderful people you could know. You look into their eyes and this isn't evil. Still, there can be no doubt that the strict reading and interpretation of the Koran cannot be seen as leading to any other outcome than the oppression of both those who accept it and those who come under its rule, accept the faith or not.
Now, you only have to look back a few hundred years in our own history to find just exactly this sort of behavior towards heathens (non-believers) and folks who rejected Christianity. So, the west is just as capable of the exact same behavior and evil. The only thing is that it isn't written into the Bible. The Bible doesn't exhort the faithful to kill the unbeliever, and to slay those who have walked away from their faith. So the West could find the value of all humanity and all life.. and to cherish those who turn to faith out of faith.
This has been a source of all sorts of trouble.. trouble like we see in the United States.. Where liberals are working to have the religious completely excluded from the operation of the state for fear of the excesses of the past.
This is a time of trial..
Some in the Islamic faith are looking to ward the coming of the 12th Imam, as a response to the troubles of the world.. perhaps even stirring those troubles to cause the 12th Imam to come forward..
Perhaps the west is secretly praying for a new teacher who can edit the Koran to make it more palatable. Otherwise, we are just kidding ourselves that this problem is not going to get worse.
One has to admit, that this is why there are no "moderate" Muslims standing up to point the right direction... because the craziest of the crazies calls the tune."
Read history. There are no moderate MUSLIMS.Only people calling themselves muslim who want to moderate islam.
Back when our brave men and women liberated Afghanistan, I suggested that for every one of these Islamic cesspools we freed our one non-negotiable demand should be that their new constitutions contain all of the protections of God-given liberty that are contained in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Obviously that wasn't how it turned out, unfortunately for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq.
A wasted opportunity of historic proportions...
IOW, 'new boss same as the old boss'...
new sleeper on board Michelle Malkin has always been conservative. You were aware when you joined last week, that FR is a conservative site, weren't you?
But but but I thought this small government conservative presidents biggest hero was jesus christ the savior he said it on live national tv during his run for the presidncy either before or after he said medical marijuana was a states rights issue and shouldnt be regulated by the feds and there was to much federal influence on education.surely he as a follower of jesus wouldnt allow the religion of peace to execute a man for following the same savior that bushy boy has for purely political reason right?
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Bump, I read it!
is it possible to write a longer run on sentence? LOL
I don't think anyone here thinks that way.
Under the Taliban, how many were killed for nothing?
You are implying that no one would be shut of it.. if they could live through it.. I don't believe that for a minute.
Proof that barbaric Islamist cultures cannot be changed overnight.
Michelle Malkin is shrill?
There have been a number of articles about this. You think it's not factual?
Why should we expect different branches of a foreign government to be in sync? Are our own? Not so much, eh?
The Supreme Court in Afghanistan is home to some Taliban retreads, pretty extreme guys (Karzai had to park them somewhere; he's dealing with a lot of religious and tribal dynamite here). The average Afghan takes his religion as a pretty personal thing and does not make a fuss about it. Most of them are Muslims without a whole lot of thought or study in it -- even most of the mullahs are hardly Koranic scholars. Most of them are barely literate.
In Afghanistan, they tell Mullah Nasruddin jokes about a stupid country mullah, like we tell Polish jokes. (many more here).
Everything is not always as it seems in Afghanistan. It is, and will likely always be, a conservative Muslim state. But it is not like it was under the Taliban, or like Iran or Saudi Arabia is today. My belief is that this guy will slip the noose that so many of you are convinced is around his neck.
The thing is, it's 1384 in Afghanistan. You don't get from medieval to modern in months. But they'll get there, as long as they have freedom.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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