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Afghanistan frees man who converted to Christianity(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) KABUL, Afghanistan _ An Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity, sparking one of the biggest political crises in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, was released late Monday. Abdul Rahman, 42, was sent to an undisclosed location after being held in his own cell inside Afghanistan's most hard-core prison, home to Taliban and Al Qaida inmates. Mohammed Eshak Aloko, Afghanistan's deputy attorney general, said the government no longer had any authority to hold Rahman, pending a mental examination. "He has been released," Aloko said. "The United Nations has said they will give him proper treatment for his mental problems and intervened with one of their nations to give him asylum." A UN spokesman Tuesday morning said he could not yet confirm Rahman's status. But the justice minister's secretary confirmed Tuesday that Rahman had been released into the custody of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the UN mission in Afghanistan. The decision caps a week of mounting international pressure on the Afghan government. Many Western officials have said they felt betrayed by a country dependent on Western aid since the Taliban's fall. The fact that Rahman could face death for a religious choice struck many as barbaric. World leaders, Christian groups and human-rights agencies called for Rahman's release. In Afghanistan, the case caused pressure as well. Its constitution protects freedom of religion and human rights, but it also says that Islam is the law of the land. Many Afghan clerics believe that means any Muslim who converts to another religion should face the death penalty, and many Afghans agree. And the judicial system is run mostly by conservative clerics. But the more moderate Afghan leadership worked behind the scenes for Rahman's safe release_under the excuse that Rahman is mentally ill, as his family claims. For a while, at least, this will mean Rahman has to leave Afghanistan, largely for his safety. It's still not clear how Afghanistan will react to Rahman's release. Many clerics have called for his death, as have average Afghans. Many are waiting to see what will happen next_and what happens this week when clerics, incredibly influential here, lead Friday prayers. "This person should be hanged," said Humayun Hashimi, 32, a tailor. "He has desecrated Islam. That is what our preacher said in our mosque." At a small protest Monday in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, hundreds of religious students and several clerics called for Rahman's death and shouted, "Death to America!" But the protest was peaceful, officials said. Violent protests erupted twice in Afghanistan in the past year over religious issues_over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and over a Newsweek report, later retracted, that said the Koran had been dunked in a toilet. If Rahman is treated for his alleged mental problems and returns to Afghanistan, he could again face charges for converting to Christianity, unless he returns to Islam. "We will reopen the case again if he's fixed," Aloko said. Rahman, who reportedly converted to Christianity about 16 years ago while working for a Christian relief group in Pakistan, lived overseas for years before returning to Afghanistan in 2003. Since then, he often had fought with his family, largely because he was unemployed and over the fate of his two daughters. He was arrested more than a month ago after showing up at the local police station and announcing he had converted to Christianity. After an initial court hearing drew international condemnation of the case, the judge announced Sunday that he was kicking the file back to prosecutors to investigate whether Rahman is mentally ill and whether he holds a passport for another country. ___ (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune. Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. _____ NEWSCOM PHOTO can be viewed at http://www.newscom.com/nc/visuals.html (Username: fpnews and Password: viewnc05 allow editors to view photos.) To purchase photos or to get your own NewsCom username and password, U.S. and Canadian newspapers, please call Tribune Media (800) 637-4082 or (312) 222-2448 or email to [email protected]. Others contact NewsCom at (202) 383-6070 or email [email protected]. Use search terms: "Abdul Rahman'' For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected]. |