From today’s NY Sun:

President Bush yesterday struck just the right note in respect of the case of Abdul Rahman, who is being tried in Afghanistan for converting to Christianity. Speaking in West Virginia, the president said he is “troubled” at the prospect that Mr. Rahman could be executed by an Afghan court for converting 15 years ago. “That’s not the universal application of the values that I talked about. I look forward to working with the government of that country to make sure that people are protected in their capacity to worship,” Mr. Bush said. All Americans share his view. Indeed, this may be one of the most serious tests Afghanistan’s nascent democracy has faced yet of how serious it is about shedding the malignant legacy of the Taliban.

Prosecutors are pursuing Mr. Rahman for apostasy. This newspaper does not belittle the seriousness with which a number of the great religions view that charge. It is among the most serious of religious offenses and can have, even in our tradition, significant consequences. But one authority whom we consulted yesterday evening could think of no modern instance in which any sort of state legal action has been meted out for apostasy in a civilized country. Religious authorities have long since learned how to deal with this in the arena of dialectic and words, rather than through the use of the gallows.
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This case is a test of whether that tolerance will extend far enough for a modern democracy of the sort that Afghanistan aspires to be. The world will be watching to see what happens if Mr. Rahman doesn’t change his mind.

And the Washington Times says:

The case of Abdul Rahman, who faces execution in Afghanistan for having become a Christian 15 years ago, is about as clear-cut as it could be. A democracy founded on the principles of freedom and tolerance does not kill religious dissenters. This was why Afghanistan under the Taliban was considered one of the most oppressive countries in the world. What have American soldiers achieved if they have not eliminated this barbaric medieval legacy?
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An Afghan prosecutor now says there are questions concerning Mr. Rahman’s mental health. “If he is mentally unfit,” says the prosecutor, “Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven.” This is no doubt a manufactured loophole to enable the government to back down to avoid a disastrous internal and diplomatic crisis. This solution, such as it is, won’t resolve the underlying discrepancy in Afghanistan’s constitution. Americans, who define faith very differently from those who must employ executioners to keep believers artificially devout, are naturally contemptuous of such a culture of fear and death. But if this manipulation of the law can save the life of a man who is only following his conscience, we must be grateful for that much.

Meanwhile, Muslim clerics in Afghanistan are making their views clear:

Senior Muslim clerics said Thursday that an Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity should be killed regardless of whether a court decides to free him.
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“He is not crazy. He went in front of the media and confessed to being a Christian,” said Hamidullah, chief cleric at Haji Yacob Mosque.

“The government is scared of the international community. But the people will kill him if he is freed.”

“He is not mad. The government are playing games. The people will not be fooled,” said Abdul Raoulf, cleric at Herati Mosque. “This is humiliating for Islam. … Cut off his head.”

Raoulf is considered a moderate cleric in Afghanistan. He was jailed three times for criticizing the Taliban’s policies before the hardline regime was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001.

Addendum 3:19 p.m.: In a speech yesterday at the International Conference on Faith and Service, Bush confidante Karen Hughes brought up the case of Abdul Rahman:

We promote the fundamental rights of free speech and assembly, free press, rule of law, limits on the power of the state, rights for women and minorities, and one of the most important freedoms of all: the freedom to worship as one chooses. It’s not because these are America’s values, but because these are universal human rights given to every man and woman by our Creator. It’s sometimes called “the first freedom.” The right to worship is a fundamental human right, enshrined in international increments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which America strongly supports.

We encourage other countries and people across the world to join with us to promote this right. In Afghanistan today, a man is being prosecuted for his religious beliefs. This case clearly violates the universal freedoms held dear by democratic peoples throughout the world. And we believe it violates the Afghan constitution which guarantees the right of an individual to freedom of religion. We are deeply concerned and have expressed those concerns to the Afghan Government. Freedom to worship according to one’s own conscience and conviction is a fundamental human right that must be upheld by all of us all the time.

Meanwhile, a call from Condi Rice to Hamid Karzai on the subject has been publicized:

In an unusual move, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned President Hamid Karzai on Thursday seeking a “favorable resolution” of the case of Abdul Rahman.
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Rice spokesman Sean McCormack said she told Karzai it is important for the Afghan people to know that freedom of religion is observed in their country. But in deference to the country’s sovereignty, Rice evidently did not demand specifically that the trial be halted and the defendant released.

“This is clearly an Afghan decision,” McCormack said. “They are a sovereign country.”

Still, Rice’s direct appeal to a foreign leader in a judicial proceeding in their own country is an unusual move.

And from the same AP story, there is more from “moderate” Afghan cleric Abdul Raoulf:

“Cut off his head!” he exclaimed, sitting in a courtyard outside Herati Mosque. “We will call on the people to pull him into pieces so there’s nothing left.”

He said the only way for Rahman to survive would be for him to go into exile.

But Said Mirhossain Nasri, the top cleric at Hossainia Mosque, one of the largest Shiite places of worship in Kabul, said Rahman must not be allowed to leave the country.

“If he is allowed to live in the West, then others will claim to be Christian so they can too,” he said. “We must set an example. … He must be hanged.”

The clerics said they were angry with the United States and other countries for pushing for Rahman’s freedom.

“We are a small country and we welcome the help the outside world is giving us. But please don’t interfere in this issue,” Nasri said. “We are Muslims and these are our beliefs. This is much more important to us than all the aid the world has given us.”

The degree of President Karzai’s dilemma, not to mention Mr. Rahman’s, should be clear. Rahman’s life won’t be worth very much in Afghanistan, should he be released, and there’s not much anyone can do about that, should he desire to stay. Afghanistan will not be cleared of bloodthirsty Islamic vengefulness overnight, and we can only pray that there is a cure for that condition in the long run. A semblance of a cure might begin, however, with the assertion by the Afghan legal system that their new constitution does in fact guarantee freedom of worship; so that at least a precedent will be established that the apparatus of the state will not be used to punish people for purely religious “crimes.”

Addendum 3:46 p.m.: Canadian P.M. says Karzai has assured a happy outcome.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has assured Canada that a man facing possible execution for converting to Christianity will not be put to death, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday.
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“He (Karzai) certainly conveyed to me that we don’t have to worry about any such eventual outcome. He had already spoken prior to my call to the attorney-general of Afghanistan about dealing with the situation,” Harper told a news conference.

“President Karzai has assured me that what’s alarmed most of us will be worked out quickly,” he added, saying he had every reason to believe in the assurances.

Meanwhile, the judge says that outside pressure is irrelevant, and if the sentence is death, Karzai must comply.

Afghanistan Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said Thursday that Afghan courts will not bow to outside pressure in the case of Abdur Rahman, who has been jailed for converting to Christianity and who could face the death penalty under Islamic sharia law if convicted of apostasy. Mawlavizada said that the “judiciary will act independently and neutrally” and said that the court’s will follow the country’s constitution, but stressed that Afghanistan is an Islamic country. Mawlavizada said that a court will begin to consider Rahman’s case in the next several days and noted that if a court sentences Rahman to death, the sentence would have to be upheld by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

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