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The Chicago Tribune is paying attention to Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man facing the death penalty for being a Christian convert. The paper provides background on Rahman’s troubled relations with his family, which has spurned him and accused him of mental illness. Jail officials and prosecutors are bloodthirsty:

Abdul Rahman told his family he was a Christian. He told the neighbors, bringing shame upon his home. But then he told the police, and he could no longer be ignored.

Now, in a major test of Afghanistan’s fledgling court system, Rahman, 42, faces the death penalty for abandoning Islam for Christianity. Prosecutors say he should die. So do his family, his jailers, even the judge. Rahman has no lawyer. Jail officials refused to let anyone see Rahman on Monday, despite permission granted by the country’s justice minister.

“We will cut him into little pieces,” said Hosnia Wafayosofi, who works at the jail, as she made a cutting motion with her hands. “There’s no need to see him…”

…Prosecutor Abdul Wasi said Rahman had been told repeatedly to repent and come back to Islam, but Rahman refused. Wasi called Rahman a traitor.

“He is known as a microbe in society, and he should be cut off and removed from the rest of Muslim society and should be killed,” Wasi told the court.

Rahman said he had surrendered himself to God. “I believe in the holy spirit,” he said. “I believe in Christ. And I am a Christian.”

Judge Ansarullah Mawlawizada, who is handling the case, said he normally takes two months to decide on cases. But because this case is so serious, he expected to hold another hearing within the next week and make a decision.

Mawlawizada, who kept Rahman’s green Bible on his desk, said he respected all religions. He emphasized that he did not favor the aggressiveness of the Taliban, who cut the hands and feet off criminals in a soccer stadium. But he said Rahman had to repent.

“If he doesn’t regret his conversion, the punishment will be enforced on him,” the judge said. “And the punishment is death.”

The Globe and Mail also reports more new details:

“It is a crime to convert to Christianity from Islam. He is teasing and insulting his family by converting,” Judge [Alhaj Ansarullah Mawawy] Zada said. “The Attorney-General is emphasizing he should be hung.”

Prison officials refused requests to interview Mr. Rahman, but one of his cellmates said he was resolute.

“He is standing by his words,” said Sayad Miakel, 30. “He will not become a Muslim again.”

Another cellmate said Mr. Rahman seemed depressed.

“He keeps looking up to the sky, to God,” said Khalylullah Safi, 31.

Later today, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns will be joined by Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah to brief the press at 2:15 p.m. EST on the just-concluded United States-Afghanistan conference on implementing our Strategic Partnership. The briefing will be on-the-record and on camera and will take place in the Loy Henderson Conference Room of the Department of State (Room 1309A.)

Can someone please ask them where President Bush and President Karzai stand on saving Abdul Rahman’s life?

Update: President Bush is scheduled to appear at a press conference at 10am EST this morning. Maybe someone will ask him his views as as a fellow Christian on Rahman’s plight.

And while we’re on the subject of Afghanistan, maybe someone can squeeze in a question about his State Department’s stupid decision to give former Taliban official Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi a student visa to study at Yale.

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FRC:

The Bush administration assured us late last year that the new Iraqi constitution would not threaten religious liberty. This, despite the provisions saying no law could be passed that was “inconsistent with Islam.” Our concern that such promises of religious freedom will be meaningless in light of Islamic law is once again justified by religious persecution in Afghanistan. The Afghan constitution, adopted after America liberated that country from the Taliban, has a provision similar to that of the new Iraqi constitution. Now, we receive a horrifying report of Abdul Rahman, 41, who is on trial for his life in Kabul, Afghanistan. Rahman’s crime? He has admitted converting to Christianity. That there should even be such a trial is an outrage.

How can we congratulate ourselves for liberating Afghanistan from the rule of jihadists only to be ruled by Islamists who kill Christians? Such a “trial” is a flagrant violation of Article 18 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights–which the current Afghan government even incorporated into its constitution. Article 18 reads: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes 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.” President Bush should immediately send Vice President Cheney or Secretary Rice to Kabul to read Hamid Kharzai’s government the riot act. Americans will not give their blood and treasure to prop up new Islamic fundamentalist regimes. Democracy is more than purple thumbs.

La Shawn Barber looks to the Bible.

Dawn Eden calls the White House. You can, too:

202-456-1111.

L’Ombre de l’Olivier has a proposal: Give Abdul Rahman a scholarship to Yale.

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Write the embassy of Afghanistan:

Ambassador Said T. Jawad
Embassy of Afghanistan
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
info@embassyofafghanistan.org

Contact the State Department:

U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Main Switchboard:
202-647-4000

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