The Abdul Rahman case came at an inopportune time, according to the Financial Times. Karzai had nine nominations to Afghanistan’s Supreme Court on their way to confirmation by the Afghan parliament, including, it seems, some reformists. The spotlight will now be shone even more brightly on whether they will adhere to Sharia when intepreting Afghanistan’s constitution.

With anti-western feelings rising in parliament, Mr Karzai may have to sacrifice some of his most reformist candidates for the Supreme Court in order to get his line-up for the 26-member cabinet passed by the house, observers say.

“There will be quite a bit of horse-trading and Karzai may sacrifice the most reformist judges as a negotiating tool to get his cabinet nominations through,’ said a western lawyer working on judicial reform.

Bahaudin Baha and Mohammad Qasem Hashemzai were seen as the two most forward-thinking judges on Mr Karzai´s list, and a failure to get the pair of them approved by parliament would signal troubled waters ahead, diplomats said.

“We are like wheat kernels being ground between the millstones of Sharia law and international human rights conventions because we have pledged to uphold both,’ said Abdul Malik Kamawi, a Supreme Court spokesman.

Sharia law can be interpreted as calling for the death penalty in cases of apostasy, heresy and adultery.

Afghanistan´s Supreme Court has been a bastion of conservatism. Ali Mohaqeq Nasab was jailed for three months last year for an article in which he questioned the interpretation of Sharia law on adultery and apostasy. He was released after western pressure.

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