Afghanistan

[mrph]

A Muslim convert to Christianity could face the death penalty in Afghanistan. Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could be executed under Sharia law unless he reconverts

It sounds as if some things haven't changed much since the Taliban days.

Comments

[taoist-goth.livejournal.com]

So what matters to the Afghan regime is that everyone's Muslim, regardless of their actual, personally held beliefs? Hmmm.

Surely it's better to be a Muslim because you believe in Allah and in Mohammad, rather than because you fear the death penalty....

[diffrentcolours]

No, what matters to the Afghan regime is that those who are Muslim stay Muslim.

[taoist-goth.livejournal.com]

...and those who leave Islam come back, clearly.

But Islam is based on love of Allah, not fear of the death sentence.

[graylion.livejournal.com]

arrrgh!

do a bit of research please. Everybody is getting hysterical about this. The new constitution offers religious freedom and the judiciary is catching up with it. several months ago a journalist got charged with insulting islam. he went free because of the constitution.

[taoist-goth.livejournal.com]

Why is Bush so concerned then? Or perhaps he's as in the dark as the Afghan judiciary?

[graylion.livejournal.com]

hell Bush

Germany is going apeshit. Bush has been positively laid back in his comments by comparison. It never seems to occur to them that when we had our new constitution in 1949 we took decades for our law to catch up with it and a lot of ruling that plain simply overturned whole sections of old law.

also i am deeply impressed by all these westerners who defend an independent judiciary and then demand that a government influence theirs ...

[(Anonymous)]

Bush is Concerned (as is probably everyone in the WhiteHouse) - since he has a substancial ammount of Backing from the Fundamentalist Christian Right. Should the Judicary take a hard line over this (Ignoring Consitutional Changes) and Try to carry out the sentence several things could Happen
The Afgan President Might get the sentace commuted (not great but the guy lives) - for which he will get flak from the conservatives (leading to possible instability in the Govt)
The Afgan President overules the Judicary and Rahman goes free - the Afgan Govt get Flak from conservatives for interfering (I can't remember how popular the Present Afgan Leader is - a wave of outrage in the country could enable one of the Warlords to replace him).
Rahman is sentenced and the Allies Intervene - Afgan Good will could be destroyed and things get more like Iraq.
Rahman is sentenced and the Allies do nothing - Rahman dies. There would be possible Sanctions / Partial Pull out by US allies, and worse for Bush his fundamentalist support evaporates overnight for "allowing" it to happen.

For Bush it's a no win situation - unless the Religious Judicary dismiss the case / find Rahman innocent

[jorune.livejournal.com]

This isn't going to help Bush, I can only hope that the man is allowed to live free.

[paulw.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna wait and watch the Christian riots and watch people burning flags of Muslim countries and destroying embassies.

[zarbi.livejournal.com]

Yes, but a tremendous amount has. You can't judge an entire country by the actions of some conservative clerics.

One interesting thing is that this charge is obvious nonsense, as was confirmed by a Muslim cleric and legal expert on Radio 4 yesterday. There is only a penalty if Islam is rejected for the purpose of treason or challenging a government. Simply changing religion because of personal belief is not a crime.