Afghan
man prosecuted for converting
USAToday
March 19, 2006
KABUL,
Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to
Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be
sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday.
The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family
went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge
Ansarullah Mawlavezada told Associated Press in an interview. Such a
conversion would violate the country's Islamic laws.
Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when
his trial started last week, the judge said.
During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted
from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a
medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan,
Mawlavezada said.
Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which states that
any Muslim who rejects their religion should be sentenced to death.
"We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in
Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law," the judge said.
"It is an attack on Islam. ... The prosecutor is asking for the death
penalty."
The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said the case was the first of its kind in
Afghanistan.
He said that he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman changed his
religion back to Islam, but the defendant refused.
Mawlavezada said he would rule on the case within two months.
Afghanistan is a deeply conservative society, and 99% of its 28 million
people are Muslim. The rest are mainly Hindus.
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