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Afghan court resists Karzai's overture to spare Christian's life(The Sunday Telegraph Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)THE SUPREME court of Afghanistan is threatening to resist President Hamid Karzai's attempts to spare a man who faces execution for converting to Christianity. In a move that could scupper Mr Karzai's efforts to resolve the crisis, the judge handling the case said he would brook neither presidential interference nor objections from Kabul's Western backers. "We [the judiciary] have nothing to do with diplomatic issues,'' Judge Ansarullah Mawlawizada told the Sunday Telegraph. "We will do our job independently.'' The judge's comments came after Mr Karzai's officials hinted that Abdul Rahman, 41, could be freed within the next two days in an effort to end the international outcry over his prosecution. Mr Karzai has assured world leaders, who have telephoned to protest at the possible death penalty, that Rahman will be spared. An official who attended a top-level crisis meeting yesterday between Mr Karzai, his cabinet and local religious leaders said: "The president said he will deal with the issue himself.'' Rahman was prosecuted under anti-apostasy edicts enshrined in Afghanistan's sharia law, which make it a crime punishable by death for any Muslim to renounce their faith. Despite the risk, however, up to 10,000 Afghans have secretly converted to Christianity in recent years, disillusioned with what they see as an overzealous Islamic involvement in politics. The case has highlighted tensions between the West's vision of Afghanistan as a liberal democracy and the orthodoxy of the country's powerful Islamic judiciary, whose outlook is shared by much of the population. Yesterday, Downing Street became caught up in the row, after criticism that no senior minister had joined the international condemnation of the case. President George W. Bush said he was "deeply troubled'' by it, the Australian prime minister, John Howard, said it was "appalling'' and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, spoke to Mr Karzai personally. The Pope also intervened, with a letter from the Vatican invoking human rights enshrined in the Afghan constitution's preamble. In Britain, it was left to a junior Foreign Office minister, Kim Howells, to echo Mr Bush's words. Critics contrast the silence on the issue of Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, with his speedy condemnation of the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, accusing him of double standards. Graham Brady, a shadow foreign minister, said: "It is time for Tony Blair and Jack Straw to end their silence on this important issue. It is patently unacceptable for Abdul Rahman to be punished in this way for his religious beliefs, and it is time the British Government took proper steps - from the very top.'' Yet amid the increasingly charged atmosphere that Rahman's case has generated, evidence has emerged of a hidden community of Afghan Christians. One such Christian, tracked down in Kabul yesterday, described a network stretching across the country and gathering an ever-increasing number of adherents. The middle-aged man, who cannot be named for fear of reprisals, embraced Christianity 20 years ago. Unlike Rahman, who converted while working for a charity in Pakistan, where there is a Christian minority numbering several million, he has never left Afghanistan. "We have churches here in Kabul and all the cities of the country, and links to Christians abroad,'' he said. "There have always been Christians in this country. Some families have been Christian for generations, but most have been converted in recent years.'' Although his business card has an Islamic name, in private he uses the name of one of Christ's disciples. He says he is a patriot who fought against the Russian invasion. "Of course we are threatened,'' he said. "We don't get trouble from ordinary people, but extremist religious groups will try to kill or kidnap us.'' Judge Mawlawizada said that while Afghanistan was grateful for aid from other countries, that did not entitle them to interfere in its laws. "In the United States men can be married in a gay marriage,'' he said. "That is irrational, illegal and against nature, but here in Afghanistan we are not talking about those cases.'' Rahman is being held in a Kabul prison after a court appearance last week. The authorities say they suspect he is mentally ill, and so may be unfit to stand trial - which would allow the supreme court to dismiss the case without loss of face. But in the mosques, talk about Rahman was uncompromising. "Rejecting Islam is insulting God,'' said Mullah Abdul Raoulf at the Herati mosque. "Cut off his head.'' |