Sunday, March 26, 2006

Charges against Afghan Christian dropped

As reported here (and elsewhere), the charges against Abdul Rahman have been dropped for "a lack of evidence", and he may be released from jail as soon as tomorrow.

In case you haven't heard about Abdul Rahman, he is an Afghani who converted to Christianity from Islam several years ago after working for a Christian relief organization in Pakistan. In Afghanistan, it is a capitol offense for someone to renounce Islam to convert to any other religion (not just Christianity), and after being 'outed', Rahman was arrested. If he had gone to trial and been convicted, his only penalty would have been death by hanging.

There has been a huge international outcry against the jailing, and probable death sentence, and it appears that the Afghan court is bowing to the pressure being brought to bear in this case, although the clerics on the court deny this to be the case, that the main reason that the charges have been dropped is a "lack of evidence", along with allegations that Rahman may not be mentally competent to stand trial.

Whatever the reason(s), for the charges being dropped, this writer welcomes the outcome, with the hope that certain laws in Afghanistan are looked at for revision as a result of the international attention this case has received.

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