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This afternoon it has been reported that Prime Minister Harper telephoned Afghan President Karzai about the prosecution of Abdul Rahman and heard some reassuring words.
"President Karzai listened to my concerns and we had a productive and informative exchange of views," Harper said in a written statement. "Upon the conclusion of the call, he assured me that respect for human and religious rights will be fully upheld in this case."
One certainly hopes that Mr Rahman's human and religious rights are sustained, but I'm not sure it would be wise to declare victory in this struggle just yet–especially if the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has any say in the outcome of Mr Rahman's case.
Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which is interpreted by many Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death. The state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has called for Rahman to be punished, arguing he clearly violated Islamic law.
It doesn't sound like that commission is quite up to speed on the whole concept of human rights.
Yahoo news link via little green footballs.
[...] Stephen Harper reassured by Afghan President Karzai [...]
[...] That Hamidullah may be dangerous, but he didn’t get to be "chief cleric" at that mosque by being stupid. It seems clear that the suggestion that Mr Rahman is too crazy to stand trial is a ploy to avoid an international incident over his execution for leaving Islam. Darn right the Afghan government is "scared of the international community". President Hamid Karzai yesterday received a personal telephone call from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and today he got an earful from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Now the European Union is starting to pay attention. Austria's foreign minister on Thursday said the European Union would do all it could to save the life of an Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity. Conviction could mean death. [...]
[...] A commentator writing in The Michigan Review thinks the whole episode raises deeply disturbing questions for Western policy in Afghanistan and, by implication, throughout the Muslim world. On the positive side, it was good to see Canada, the United States, and much of Europe speak loudly and with one voice in support of Abdul Rahman's religious freedom. But, on the down side, it is disheartening to realise that, despite the West's expending millions of dollars and vast military resources to build democracy in Afghanistan, the vast majority of Afghans refuse to accept the rights and freedoms that accompany liberal democracy. [...]
[...] Islamists still havent gotten over Abdul Rahman By StatGuy Abdul Rahman, the Afghan former Muslim who converted to Christianity, became an international cause celebre when many of his countrymen called for his execution on the charge of apostasy. After an international outcry and intense diplomatic pressure, he was allowed to flee to freedom in Italy. The Muslims who wanted him dead have not forgotten his escape. The kidnappers of an Italian journalist in Afghanistan have offered to free him in exchange for a Christian convert who fled the country, an aid agency says. [...]