Query for Brian Whitaker: where are the hundreds protesting Abdul Rahman's imprisonment and apostasy charge?
More evidence that the fundamental assumptions of dhimmitude are still alive and well in Afghanistan. From CNN, with thanks to all who sent this in:
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Hundreds of people protested in a northern Afghan city following reports that a man who faced a possible death penalty for converting to Christianity would be released, officials said.About 700 Muslim clerics and others chanted "Death to Bush" and other anti-Western slogans in Mazar-e-Sharif on Monday, officials told The Associated Press.
Clerics have called for protests across Afghanistan against both the government and the West, which had pressured President Hamid Karzai's administration to drop the case against Abdul Rahman.
On Sunday, a Western diplomat and Afghan officials close to Karzai told CNN that Rahman would be released soon.
Other sources in the Afghan judiciary said the case against Rahman had been thrown out on technical grounds and sent back to prosecutors to gather more evidence.
Those same sources said Rahman may not be released.
Karzai has been under growing international pressure to find a way to free Rahman without angering Muslim clerics who have called for him to be killed.
The Afghan Cabinet discussed the case Saturday, but results of that meeting were unknown. A government source familiar with his case said on Friday he would be released in the coming days....
"The court dismissed today the case against Abdul Rahman for a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. AP said the official has been closely involved with the matter.
"The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow," AP quoted the official as saying. "They don't have to keep him in jail while the attorney general is looking into the case."
Abdul Wakil Omeri, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, confirmed to AP that the case had been dismissed because of "problems with the prosecutors' evidence."
He said several family members of Rahman have testified that he has mental problems.
"It is the job of the attorney general's office to decide if he is mentally fit to stand trial," he told AP.
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said questions were now being raised as to whether Rahman would stay in Afghanistan or go into foreign exile, AP reported....
Earlier Sunday, AP quoted prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari as saying that doctors would examine Rahman on Monday to determine whether he was mentally fit to stand trial.
"It has been said that he has mental problems," the prosecutor said. "Doctors will examine him tomorrow and will then report to us."...
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she could not confirm that an Afghan court had dismissed the case and stressed the U.S. needs to respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan, which she called a "young democracy."
"Unlike the Taliban, it actually has a constitution to which one can appeal," she told CNN's "Late Edition." "We as Americans know in democracy, as it evolves, there are difficult issues about state and church -- or, in this case, state and mosque.
"We expect that, given our own history, that we would know Afghans have to go through this evolution."...
Yes, I remember the bad old days when converting to another religion was a federal crime. We've come a long way!
Rahman, 41, faces trial on charges of converting to Christianity -- a death-penalty offense under Afghanistan's constitution, which is based on Islamic law...."We've been very clear with the Afghan government that it has to understand the vital importance of religious freedom to democracy," Rice said....
Also on Sunday, AP quoted officials as saying Rahman had been moved to a notorious maximum-security prison outside Kabul that is also home to hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
Rahman was moved to Policharki Prison last week after detainees threatened his life at an overcrowded police holding facility in central Kabul, a court official said on condition of anonymity, AP reported.
Thus "kill al Jews and Infidels" would be re-phrased as "love Jews and Infidels".
There's a thought. And "beat them (your wives)" would become "treat them".
It's a whole different text.
"We've been very clear with the Afghan government that it has to understand the vital importance of religious freedom to democracy," Rice said....
Gosh Condi, seems like the time to have been clear about all this was BEFORE Sharia law was enshrined into the new, improved Afghan Constitution.
Who exactly was unclear about what?
fuzzy language = fuzzy thinking = unclear policy
The true face of Islam, the death cult.
I like that Idea, some improvements though. Add to this New Translation Koran the complete texts of the Geneva Conventions, the Human Rights Declaration of Cyrus the Great, the Human Rights Declarations of the UN.
Don't stop with the Koran; all Islamic scripture should get this modern humanitarian up-lift...
Air Drop them en masse over every Islamic country, followed by air drops of Jack Daniels, Penthouse, Playboy, Maxim and cigarettes. Lets hope for the best...
I watched our Sec. of State Condolezza Rice on the Sunday morning news shows and she show great ignorance as far as understanding true Islam. No one is questioning whether Afghanistan is a soverign nation or not. The question is does the Afghan government respect the right of a person to convert to another religion woth out loss of their life.For all of her intellengence, she is very ignorant of true Islam. And the sad part is the needed information on Islam is out there and it seems that no one in government will take advantage of it. To educate themselves about Islam or Muslims in general. There is this prevailing mindset that to criticize Islam is tantamont to Islamophobia. Nuts to that!!! We have a man that is close to losing his life because he made a life changing decision. A puppet president that can protect him, but won't. And a paper governing body that is powerless against the religous tyrants really running Afghanistan.
These facts are not lost to Ms. Rice. They just can't be. It dosen't take a collage degree to see this. Only a degree of good common sense!!! And to call Afghanistan a young democracy is lunacy. When the puritans sailed to this country, it was to excercise their right to worship as they saw fit. The early popes were tyrants in Europe and they persecuted anyone that did not bow down to their assumed authority. They terrorized Bible believers and labeled them heritics, anethma to the Holy See, and gave them the title Protestants because they protested against the popery. Many were martyred for their faith. To obey Jesus rather than the pope. William Tyndale was burned at the stake because he translated the Bible for the Barvarian poeple. This presecution lead to the puritans leaving Europe to settle in the New World.
Bro. Rahman is being denied the chance to leave Afghanistan because he is anethma to the ruling imans and Muslim folk in Afghanistan. It easy to release him into the populace, because the imns have called for his head. And we all know how obediant these Muslims are when it comes to getting even for Allah and Islam. And now the Afghan government have shipped Bro Rahman to a prison were Islanmic extremist are imprisoned. i guess that if Bro Rahman is, by chance, killed while unjustly incarserated that will clear the Afghan government from crticism. Far from the truth in my book. This would be further proof of my presonal assumption about Hamid Karzai and his government. Proof of who REALLY runs the show in Afghanistan. A fact that Sec. of State Rice can not hide from right thinking people in the Free World. Thus leaving egg in the faces of our President and his adminisration.
Hondo got it just right. Sending Rahman to the prison outside of Kabul is indeed a death sentence, but one without the expressed endorsement of the Afghan gov't. Thousands of years of Islamic public relations marches on...
I'm signing in here with a possible clue to one of the mysteries here. What I have heard...
HRH El Hassan bin Talal may have a lot to do with the myth of "peaceful Islam." Former Crown Prince of Jordan, he is European educated and is one of the big wigs in UN society. As current president of the Club of Rome, he carries a lot of weight in such society. He writes books.
I have not read his books, but I have heard reviews of them. His policies are commonly repeated by many in politically high position.
I'm afraid also, that this will be the last we hear of Rahman. Their constitution needs rewriting and the clerics need a little less authority.
I'm on your side, Robert, and I appreciate your work, but I must point out that, though not a "federal crime" since there was no federal U.S. government at the time, there were laws in the colony of Virginia that called for people who missed Sunday church services three times to be put to death. I suppose this might have the effect of a death sentence on anyone who converted away from Christianity.
"Every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath (Sunday), and in the afternoon to divine service, and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and the allowance for the whole week following; for the second, to lose the said allowance and also be whipped; and for the third to suffer death."
Laws and Orders, Divine, Politique, and Martial, for the Colony in Virginia: first established by Sir Thomas Gates, knight, Lieutenant - General, the 24th of May, 1610.
For more on the 1610 "Sunday Law:"
http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks/garraty8e_awl/chapter1/medialib/primarysources2_2_2.html
Pardon me, but who has the mental problems? Rahman, or 700 muslim clerics who want him to die for nothing. Be proud c.a.i.r., be very proud.
nick-
'soon as you get that ole Time Machine workin', gimme a call!
Maybe we could bring a few Puritan fathers here to argue with the neo-Taliban.
Otherwise, 1610 seems a stretch.
profitsbeard,
You seem to have read something into my post that did not exist. Sec. Rice referred to our HISTORY when it comes to religious oppression. It was implied in the blog that there was no such history of putting people to death for such trivial religious reasons as conversion to another faith. I was merely pointing out that it did indeed include the death penalty, and for even more trivial reasons than that. There was no equivalence to our present day standards of morality stated or implied.
I believed when it happened that our having allowed people in Afghanistan to elect mad-dog Islamists to represent them, and to incorporate sharia into their constitution, would effectively undo everything we had spilt our blood to do. It's as if we defeated Hitler's Germany and then let the German people elect Nazis as their new representatives, and let that new government incorporate all the tenets outlined in Mein Kampf into their new Constitution.
Comments on Nick's comments:
I like to think of Christianity as truly "Reform Judaism." If we learn anything from Christ it is that "spiritual crimes" such as blasphemy, heresy, and even adultry are not to be judged by man, but left to our Judeo-Christian God alone. The abhorrent things that the early Christian church did are not attributed to Christ's teachings, but the twisted minds of primitive control freaks. Islam, however, contains those things that Christ preached against. The things that we Westerners consider abhorrent are written in the Koran and codified in Sharia, and practiced by mainstream Muslims. No one has "hijacked" Islam. Please do not be guilty of comparing Christianity to modern Islam simply because of the ugly things done in the name of Christ 500 years ago. We, as Christians long ago emerged from the spiritual paranoia that existed in our religion during its first 1500 years. It is time for Muslims to do the same.
"Unlike the Taliban, it actually has a constitution to which one can appeal," she told CNN's "Late Edition." "We as Americans know in democracy, as it evolves, there are difficult issues about state and church -- or, in this case, state and mosque.
This is so precious. Did she forget to read the part of the constitution that said, no law shall overrule sharia law?
Does she not understand that the Koran is the constitution?
Is she unaware that under Islamic law, there can by definition be no division of mosque and state?
We love ya Condi, but get out of the gym and stick your head in a book.
Condi
Might as well take the NFL commisioner's job while it is open.
tennesseepride,
Thank you. I am well aware of the distinctions and agree with you. I made no comparisons. If I did, please show me where. My first post did not even attempt any analysis at all. I merely corrected a misstatement, or at least a misleading statement, by providing historical fact. If I'm mistaken and anyone would like to refute the facts I posted about the Virginia colony, please do. However, the only personal opinion I expressed was the second paragraph of the second post which compared Afghanistan to post-WWII Germany. The first post was merely historical data devoid of any personal opinion about it, and is not really debatable. I am on your side, guys. Believe me. That doesn't mean I'm willing to deny historical facts for whatever reason, or allow anyone else to. That's what the bad guys do. We musn't.
tennesseepride,
Thank you. I am well aware of the distinctions and agree with you. I made no comparisons. If I did, please show me where. My first post did not even attempt any analysis at all. I merely corrected a misstatement, or at least a misleading statement, by providing historical fact. If I'm mistaken and anyone would like to refute the facts I posted about the Virginia colony, please do. However, the only personal opinion I expressed was the second paragraph of the second post which compared Afghanistan to post-WWII Germany. The first post was merely historical data devoid of any personal opinion about it, and is not really debatable. I am on your side, guys. Believe me. That doesn't mean I'm willing to deny historical facts for whatever reason, or allow anyone else to. That's what the bad guys do. We musn't.
Nick,
It is true that their was religious persecution sanctioned by law in the colonies in America, but when a true government was in place (the United States) there were no such laws. So when we see Afghanistan with a constitution and a government and the fact that people can still be tried by religious law there, we see a problem. There are reasons why there weren't any laws of that kind put into the U.S. Constitution. The United States and the colonies are two different entities, not the same. So the U.S. couldn't be blamed for any religious laws used in the colonies. Afghanistan on the other hand has enshrined such thinking in its constitution. Sorry for repeating myself or sounding dull...it's very early in the morning.