Posted on 03/23/2006 12:41:32 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
The Times March 23, 2006
Insanity clause could save Christian convert
From Richard Beeston Diplomatic Editor and Tim Albone in Kabul
PRESIDENT BUSH led international condemnation of Afghanistan yesterday over the case of a Muslim who converted to Christianity and now faces the death penalty under the country’s Islamic laws. He criticised the Afghan authorities, saying that liberated countries needed to respect democratic rights. “I am deeply troubled when I hear that a person who may have converted away from Islam may be held accountable,” Mr Bush said.
His comments came after the arrest of Abdul Rahman this month. Under the 2004 Afghan Constitution, Mr Rahman could face the death penalty for an attack on Islam.
But yesterday it appeared that the case could be dismissed on a technicality if Mr Rahman were found mentally unfit to stand trial.
A relative described the defendant as “silly and like a child”. “I am scared because he is my brother and he is not 100 per cent healthy — he has psychological problems.”
Britain, Italy and Germany have also spoken out against the Western-backed Government of President Karzai for its failure to stop the prosecution of Mr Rahman.
Kim Howells, Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister, said that he was seeking “urgent clarification” about the case from Afghanistan, where about 5,000 British troops will be deployed this summer.
“Individuals should be able to practise their faith free from persecution. We take every opportunity to urge states to implement laws and practices which foster tolerance and mutual respect,” he said.
Gianfranco Fini, the Italian Foreign Minister, summoned the Afghan Ambassador to “shed light” on the case and told the Italian envoy to Kabul to make urgent representations to the Afghan authorities.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, said that he viewed the case with “great concern”.
In Kabul the authorities appeared surprised by the outcry but insisted that the judicial process had to be respected.
But a human rights expert in the city said that the defendant’s mental state could provide the authorities with an excuse to drop the case, but warned that “something like this will come up again”.
“They don’t want to upset their big donors, but this case highlights the gulf between Sharia law and statutory law.”
So all Afghani Christians (there can't be many) are fruit-cakes?
Who said the world doesn't learn from the American judicial system?
Tyrannical ideologies always manifest themselves thus. Islam is no different.
I don't understand why there are any males left alive in Afghanistan that aren't Christian.
The recent "democratization" in the middle east -no matter if we talk about Afghanistan or Iraq- has a fundamental mistake. Instead to establish secular and laical systems like in Turkey, America gave local politicians of the area too much freedom to launch their own islamistic ideas. Those guys are obviously not mature enough to inaugurate freedom by themselves. The Turkish democracy (I know that it is not perfect) is the only one that works in the middle east.
In the moment NATO is defending a barbarian country with a barbarian theocracy. ALthough it was nessecary to get rid of the Taliban, this outcome is rather disappointing.
Not to mention their centuries-old opium culture. At least Jim Rob has his next poll made to order:
If Afghanistan actually begins to execute former Muslims who convert to Christianity, what should the U.S. do?
1. Have Ambassador Bolton make an impassioned plea for religious toleration at the U.N. and try to pass a resolution condemning religious intolerance.
2. The U.S. government should threaten reduced aid and support if they do not reform.
3. Send Condi Rice to Afghanistan to try to privately persuade the Afghan leadership.
4. President Bush should make a public ultimatum that such religious intolerance violates every principle that we are fighting for in the Mideast. If the Afghan gov't won't reform, we should pull out of Afghanistan completely and leave them to rot in their own fundamentalist lunacy.
4. President Bush should make a public ultimatum that such religious intolerance violates every principle that we are fighting for in the Mideast. If the Afghan gov't won't reform, we should pull out of Afghanistan completely and leave them to rot in their own fundamentalist lunacy.
This should be combined with the offer of help if they reform themselves into a secular democracy. Sharia and islamic political systems are not compatible to humanism and western values. But who asks me?
Talk about wasted bombs
And wasted US lives. Some cultures are best left to extinction.
“I am deeply troubled when I hear that a person who may have converted away from Islam may be held accountable,” Mr Bush said.
Welcome to the REAL WORLD Mr. Bush.
Perhaps you can also use the "insanity cause" to explain what you did there in Af*ckistan.
When the choice is between sharia-and-sharia-alike and a terrorist nest, whatyagunnado?
There are plenty of these cases, and not just in Afghanistan. http://www.persecution.org
And the US supports this barbaric country?
On the brighter side, they no longer try to fly airplanes into American skyscrapers.
And wasted US lives. Some cultures are best left to extinction.
As much as I understand your responses, for the situation is disappointing at least and outrageous at best, it is also what happens when one goes to war with an ill-defined enemy. We are really in a bad situation because of our own mistake. The insidious nature of Islam was never even considered. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan...even the real name tells you this is a theocracy, not a democracy. Until we tell the middleast that islam as a political path is invalid, unacceptable, and we will no longer provide financial support to Islamic Republics we will be stuck.
The time is coming, probably not under this president, when Americans will be asked to make sacrifices. So far as I can tell, this President, has mentioned the addiction to oil and is trying to get the ingenious minds of America to look for real alternatives. Petroleum products are in all the everyday items all around us, it is more than what goes in the gas tank.
Does my President still have my support for the war effort? Yes, in spite of all of the missteps, yes. The battle must be fought, but I only hope we begin to better identify the enemy.
5. Who cares? We didn't go into Afghanistan to reform its people, we went there to destroy the Taliban, and as long as the Afghan gov't helps us do that, I am ok with the situation.
The USA should not be supporting this wicked Afghani government. Surely we have better things to do.
This is just a way to save face. They can say we would have prosecuted him BUT he is insane. That way they don't look like their bowing to western pressure.
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