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.
Only because we chose not to finish WWII properly. Had we defeated Russia, the Berlin Wall would never have been built, and two+ generations would never have known the tyranny of the USSR. Communism was a Russian problem that we allowed to spread into Germany after the war.
Your comments mean nothing.
Thanks for the ping!
I believe that your post is perhaps the most sensible one I've seen yet. Feminized in our approach to defeating terrorist and their sympathizers is exactly why we are not gaining any real ground in this terror war.
I am convinced that anything that we think we have gained is going to prove out to be less than nothing before it is all over, because we haven't got the heart to destroy the very cause for all these Mideast problems in the first place.
We had the Moral authority and the power to demand that Sharia Law not be written into their constitution, but our wonderful state department, along with the illustrious and ever self serving congressional politicians agreed to it.
Why?
How can we as a nation who value personal choice and self determination, simply sit back and let these "Troglodyte Muslims" take the life of one of their own, because he has discovered something better, and now refuses to embrace their nationally sanctioned evil beliefs?
This is not the type of democracy that I supported, and it's not what our young men and women have fought and died for! The Muslim faith is not a religion of Peace: It is Evil to the core, and it's leaders are what is driving all the unrest in the world today.
Well here's a rational response for you.
The State Department issues a warning to the Afghan Government stating; "The U.S. will not tolerate any government who engages in, sanctions, or allows the persecution or execution of anyone in their country, for the expression of their personal, political, or religious beliefs. Further more; the right to express ones own personal faith or religion is to be respected, so long as the individuals personal religion is peaceable and does not promote destructive deeds or actions to the common good of his neighbors or the government: and they shall not be violated by government sanction, or by any other religious entity.
Violations of such basic civil and human rights, allowed or sanctioned by the Afghan government, it's officials, or by any group within their government, and or its jurisdiction, will be considered by the US Government as persecution, and will be followed by both swift and severe retribution by the Government of the USA."
"Our position on these fundamentals of basic human rights are non negotiable, and we fully expect any civilized nation, worthy of our assistance and or alliance, to both respect and embrace these values".
Now please enlighten me, as to just how this would be destructive to our foreign policy?
How old are you? I am guessing 19 striving on 5.
Well then why were you bothering me? You asked a worthless question what did you expect? Because so far you only seem interested in reading your own posts.
touchy aren't we!:)
I think you are having a cognitive problem. You don't understand my very clear comment, then dribble some words that have no meaning.
Now you're getting mean.
nice homepage.
"We had the Moral authority and the power to demand that Sharia Law not be written into their constitution, but our wonderful state department, along with the illustrious and ever self serving congressional politicians agreed to it."
But we abrogated the job and gave it to the UN. The UN's Lakhdar Brahimi strikes again.
Everywhere that man goes order turns to chaos.
She is a bigot against Muslims and allows her prejudices
I am a bigot against Muslims. It is a false religion where people kill in the name of their moon god, who is not at all related to the Judeo-Christian G-d most Americans worship. Islam has no respect for life or women. The evidence is here in the story, when a man can lose his life for choosing to worship Christ.
This is because their G-d is not real and has no real power.
I wouldn't expect such an overt ultimatum as you composed, but I sure do agree with the moral sentiment of it.
I figure we deal with some unsavory countries (and turn our heads at certain unpleasantness), just as we deal with some unsavory informants now thatteh Toricelli Principle has (properly) been cast aside.
See, e.g., China and the Falun Gong.
thank you :)
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