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.
No one here want's to pull out of Afghanistan.
Malkin is NOT a bigot.
You aren't winning any points.
Now calm down, before someone gets hurt.
Perhaps the Moslems don't really believe their god can handle his own problems?
Perhaps they don't really believe he is real?
Shalom.
It is not known whether Muhammed ever actually saw a Bible or not, but it is clear that he had heard stories from the Bible from Jews and apparently from Christians.
Where did the Muslims get Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Mary, and Jesus from? These are all part of their religion, but in distorted form. Ishmael rather than Jacob was the one chosen by God. Jesus was a prophet, but not the Son of God. And so forth.
In other words, when Muhammed invented his religion, which was basically constructed as a manual for control and conquest, he built it on a distorted version of the Bible.
Thank God the Taliban was toppled, but to think that all heinous practices in the country are going to be stopped in a handful of years is extremely naive.
Hopefully this man will be saved through various forms of International pressure. It's not Pres. Bush's responsibility to intervene in every case of injustice. It WAS his job to topple the Taliban for the US' sake...and he did it.
Let's all just keep chanting:
It's only a few!
It's only a few!
It's only a few!
It's...
No one has come up with a rational solution? How about NO ISLAMIC LAW AGAINST OTHER RELIGIONS BECAUSE UNLESS YOU TAKE OUT ISLAMIC LAW, AMERICAN WILL INEVITABBLY BE HIT WITH ANOTHER 9/11?
Our President is blowing it.
heh-heh :)
ping
ping
What?????????? You don't want me to follow your example?
hi, please put me on your malkin ping list. she is great :)
That would be fabulous! Please do!
Welcome aboard! :)
<< "How do you solve a problem like... Shariah?" >>
By first recognizing that it is a manifestation of unadulterated evil and by destroying the absolutely evil malignacy that is its host.
" We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. " -- Ann Coulter.
And neither was Ann and nor am I joking.
Both she and I, at least, understand we are engaged in a battle whose outcome will be either the survival or the total September 11 2001-like destruction of Judeo-Christian/Western/Human Civilization -- and essentially of our species as we know it.
ping for interest
By what method? I don't think you mean convert them by force, which is not conversion. What Islam needs is another 'holy prophet' who will re-write the koran and take all the crap out of it. Short of that, I suggest they isolate themselves and let them 'purify' themselves without sacrificing any more non-islamic blood to quench 'allah's' thirst.
When they are swimming knee-deep in their own blood and stumbling over their corpses they might begin to look for a more benevolent and humane 'god.'
As it is, even the beasts of the field have a better form of worship, which is to say that no 'god' at all is better than the bloodthirsty tyrant they have now.
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