Afghan Court Drops Case Against "Mad" Convert

KABUL, March 26, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Afghanistan's Supreme Court decided on Sunday, March 26, to drop the case against a man who converted to Christianity 16 years ago on the grounds of his mental condition.

"The attorney general has the authority to either send back the case to this or any court or even can decide" to release Abdur Rahman, Supreme Court spokesman Wakil Omari told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He said the court had decided not to pursue its case against Abdur Rahman after hearing testimony that he was mentally disturbed.

"According to his relatives, his cousin Abdul Munir ... and his daughter, Maria, he's not mentally fit. He's mad," Omari said.

"He himself has said that he hears strange voices in his head. His files have been sent back to the attorney general for further investigations."

The man, who is being held in a maximum security jail on the outskirts of Kabul, is likely to be released within a few days.

Rahman, 41, was arrested last month after his relatives reported his conversion to Christianity to the police.

He converted 16 years ago in Pakistan and spent many years in Germany before returning to Afghanistan around 2002. He was facing the death penalty.

The case has provoked a storm of protest from many of the Western nations providing Afghanistan with military and financial support.

Religious Freedom

Pope Benedict XVI Sunday condemned the persecution of Christians in countries lacking religious freedom, a day after appealing for clemency for Rahman.

"My thoughts turn particularly towards communities living in countries where religious freedom does not exist or exists on paper but is subject to numerous restrictions."

The pontiff voiced solidarity with all Christians "persecuted for their faith."

The Vatican announced Saturday, March 25, that the pope had intervened in writing to Afghan President Hamid Karzai with an appeal for clemency for Rahman.

The letter appealed for "respect for freedom of conscience and religion."

Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi said that Islam does not execute the apostate who does not proclaim his apostasy or call for it. Rather, it leaves the punishment for the Hereafter if he dies in the state of apostasy.

Mohammad Salim Al-`Awwa, secretary general of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, stated that the Noble Qur'an did not specify a worldly punishment for apostasy.

The Qur'anic verses talking about apostasy only warned of a punishment for the apostate in the Hereafter, he said echoing Qaradawi's stance.

Loser Karzai

An Afghan official told AFP that discussions continued Sunday "among high-ranking officials of the government to find a way to meet the expectations of the international community and the internal expectations."

Karzai had come under extreme pressure from Western governments over the case.

"We understand the concerns of our friends abroad and we hope we could reach an agreeable solution," said the official.

Many see the case as a major challenge for Karzai -- forcing him to choose between his country and his international friends.

"It is like a two-side drum. Beating any side makes a noise," a Supreme Court judge not involved in the Rahman case told AFP.

"You have got the international community on one end and the Afghan community on the other end. Either way Karzai is a loser: if he takes the side of one, he has the other party standing against him."