The incredible saga of Abdul Rahman, the Muslim convert to Christianity who nearly was put on trial and sentenced to death in Afghanistan for changing religions, was chilling – even though the 41-year-old apostate was eventually freed and fled to safety in Italy.
Rahman was arrested several weeks ago on accusations from relatives that he had abandoned Islam and become a Christian (true). That’s a capital crime under Afghanistan’s legal code, which is based on Sharia, or Islamic law. (This makes us wonder if the Taliban have returned.)
Rahman’s arrest and the possible death penalty provoked an international outcry. President Bush and officials of other countries who helped oust the hard-line Taliban called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to protect religious rights.
After Rahman was released late Monday, Deputy Attorney General Mohammed Eshak Aloko said prosecutors had determined he was “mentally unfit to stand trial.” That didn’t mean his life wasn’t in danger: “Abdul Rahman must be killed!” senior cleric Faiez Mohammed thundered in the northern city of Kunduz. “The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion.”
Rahman had asked United Nations officials to arrange asylum in another country, and Italy stepped up and offered him sanctuary. He arrived there on Wednesday and relieved Karzai of an incredible headache.
Rahman, who converted to Christianity while working for an international aid group in Pakistan 16 years ago, shouldn’t have had to flee his country. Under the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right incluedes the freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Some Muslim groups, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, insist that the Quran teaches tolerance: “Let there be no compulsion in religion.” Others insist that any Muslim who foreswears his faith must be executed, citing historic accounts that the Prophet Muhammad put apostates to death.
International law and modern concepts of human rights, however, don’t countenance religious oppression, much less executing people for changing faiths. Nations that support freedom of conscience must make their stand clear to others.
