Afghan Court Drops Case Against Christian

[maddezmom]

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence, and he will be released soon, an official said.

"The court dismissed today the case against Abdul Rahman for a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

He said the case has been returned to the prosecutors for more investigation, but that in the meantime Rahman would be released.

"The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow," he said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060326/ap_on_re_mi_ea/afghan_christian_convert

edited as AP edited the content.

[OKNancy]

1. Good

I hope the poor fellow will be safe. I have doubts he will be.

[maddezmom]

6. did you see where they are holding him?

Afghan convert moved to notorious prison
Updated Sun. Mar. 26 2006 8:23 AM ET

CTV.ca News

An Afghan man who is facing a possible death sentence for converting to Christianity has been moved to a notorious prison that is filled with hundreds of Islamic militants.

Abdul Rahman had been held at a packed police holding centre in central Kabul while his trial progresses, but was moved to the maximum security prison outside Kabul after his life was threatened by other inmates, a court official told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Policharki Prison, where Rahman has been moved, is home to hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

more:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060324/afghan_ap_060325/20060326?hub=TopStories&s_name=

[sattahipdeep]

10. Warning: ("pull him into pieces.")

KABUL, Afghanistan - Senior Muslim clerics demanded Thursday that an
Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity be
executed, warning that if the government caves in to Western pressure
and frees him, they will incite people to "pull him into pieces."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183778#2185411?az=view_all&address=102x2183778

[Boojatta]

15. I have heard the words "you're dead to me" used when a person has done

something so bad that people will imagine the person has died. Is it a tradition for mourners at funerals in Afghanistan to pull the body of the deceased into pieces?

[thefool_wa]

16. OMG!

I really don't want to believe this is true, but I know it is.

Of all the things in this world to kill each other over, it seems to me that religion is by far the most pointless reason of them all. I see no reason whatsoever to kill someone because they believe in God a different way than I do.

Faith and Religion are in this world to bring peace, hope, and meaning to our lives, not to make us kill one another. What is it about this simple truth that these nutjobs don't understand?

[sattahipdeep]

12. Government amnesty scheme

Wednesday Feb. 8, 2006, KABUL: More than 170 Taliban and other fighters
surrendered on Sunday as part of a government amnesty scheme, vowing to lay
down arms and work to rebuild the war-ravaged Afghanistan, officials said.
The men travelled from various provinces from across Afghanistan to Kabul for a
ceremony at which their surrender was announced by the head of the government's
reconciliation commission Sebghattullah Mujaddadi. They included members of the
extremist Hezb-e-Islami faction of wanted warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

"In the ceremony, 172 brothers, who were former Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami,
surrendered," Commission Spokesman Sayed Sharif Yousufi told AFP. More than 1000
Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami members had signed up to the amnesty scheme since it was
launched less than a year ago, Yousufi said. One of the former fighters, Qazi Joma
Khan from Hezb-e-Islami faction, said the men wanted to help rebuild Afghanistan.

"We vow to help ensure security and peace and take part in reconstruction of our
country," he said. Among those, who have taken up the offer, were former Taliban
Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil and Taliban regime's Ambassador to
Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef.

http://indiamonitor.com/news/readNews.jsp?ni=10435

[MADem]

34. Run, mutha, run!!! That's why he was released pending further

investigation...to give him time to beat feet to Germany!

[cornermouse]

2. See, now that they got that out of the way, they can continue with

their war. I wonder if they would have expended this much time or pressure for a non-christian? Somehow I doubt it.

[rodeodance]

4. I think this is the first time many Americans became aware of some

of what is going on over there. There is the myth put out by the WH that the signing of the Constitution made everything allright!

[pretzel4gore]

11. there was a bbc documentary years ago

actually, it had nothing to do with 911. Some muhajadeen commander was being interviewed about the fight against the Soviets, which the Taliban had won with western CIA help; the guy said, to paraphrase, that 'Now we can restore islamic rule, we can put women back in their place, and we can stop the educating and freedoms of the people"...
Baldfaced criminality on the part of the west, for imposing this shit on afghanistan! Needless to say, the interview was only carried on the cbc during off hours...the USSR collapsed damn near 16 years ago....
unless it's innocent, stupidity is evil

[APPLE314]

3. He better run for his life

Unofficially of course.

[acmavm]

7. I'm with you. What these nuts couldn't do legally with the Afgan

government's blessing will most certainly be done by without the government's cooperation. The guy's a goner if he stays.

[wordpix2]

9. me, too. My guess is Xtian group in US or Britain offered him sanctuary

[EST]

5. Hypocrisy so thick it would spread like crap.

Had this poor dick converted from Islam to Buddhism, they would have lopped his head off and fed him to the dogs and nobody (in the insanity jungle) would have given a flip!

[fujiyama]

36. Good point

Muslims always like to say their religion was always tolerant of other "people of the book"...

Guess what happened to people not of the book?

[xchrom]

8. this saves bush from a military against one of the institutions

of the ''new democratic'' afghanistan.

wouldn't that have been heavy with irony.

becase as sure as the sun rises in the east -- bush would have had to conduct a military raid to ''save'' this one guy from afghanistans court system.

[Mark E. Smith]

13. Afghanistan's Mea Culpa: He's Mentally Ill

So we spent billions of dollars and sacrificed hundred of lives to install a regime in Kabul that declares Christianity a mental illness? That would arrest someone for being Christian, lock him in a prison and threaten him with death?

Rahman converted to Christianity 16 years ago, and continued to practice his faith unmolested through the worst years of Taliban rule. Why was he arrested now that we have a supposed democracy in place?

[sattahipdeep]

14. How does someone become an ex-terrorist?

How does someone become an ex-Taliban?

*
He was arrested after telling police he converted to Christianity
while reportedly carrying a bible with him.

....
March 22, 2006
Hector Duarte Jr. - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Washington D.C. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, anyone promoting
Christianity faced arrest, while those converting from Islam could be
tortured and even put to death.

*
This policy was supposed to change after U.S. forces ousted the fundamentalist regime.
The recent case of Abdul Rahman, 41, however, has many scratching their heads
wondering if Afghanistan is actually regressing.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7002880811

[High Plains]

22. How does someone become an ex-Taliban?

Somebody seems hung up on this question.

I suppose by renouncing the Taliban.

And going to graduate school at Yale.

[sattahipdeep]

24. How else explain what is good for one is evil for another?

"On the morning of Sept. 11, Goss and Graham were having breakfast with a Pakistani general named
Mahmud Ahmed the soon-to-be-sacked head of Pakistan's intelligence service. Ahmed ran a spy
agency notoriously close to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban."  (Washington Post, 18 May 2002).

The following text published in Global Outlook , Winter 2003, provides
details on the breakfast meeting hosted by Sen Bob Gram and Rep. Porter
Goss on the morning of September 11.

In late August 2001, barely a couple of weeks before 9/11, Senator Bob
Graham, Representative Porter Goss and Senator Jon Kyl were in Islamabad
for consultations. Meetings were held with President Musharraf and with
Pakistan's military and intelligence brass including the head of Pakistan's
Inter Services Intelligence ISI General Mahmoud Ahmad. An AFP report confirms
that the US Congressional delegation also met the Afghan ambassador to
Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef. At this meeting, which was barely mentioned
by the US media, "Zaeef assured the US delegation on behalf of the Afghan
government that the Taliban would never allow bin Laden to use Afghanistan
to launch attacks on the US or any other country." 1

Note the sequencing of these meetings. Bob Graham and Porter Goss were
in Islamabad in late August 2001. The meetings with President Musharraf
and the Afghan Ambassador were on the 27th of August, the mission was still
in Islamabad on the 30th of August, General Mahmoud Ahmad arrived in
Washington on an official visit of consultations barely a few days later
September 4th. During his visit to Washington, General Mahmoud met his
counterpart CIA director George Tenet and high ranking officials of the
Bush administration.2

See also....
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO206A.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO111A.html
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO308C.html

Note:
Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef. He was the one, the
face and the voice really for the Taliban in the early days of the war
campaign over in Afghanistan here.

Pakistan has apprehended him, apparently in Islamabad. Later today we
anticipate his return here to Afghanistan. Again, he'll be turned over
again to U.S. authorities here in Afghanistan, and certainly at the top
of the list for questioning for him is, where is Mullah Mohammed Omar,
and clearly that question is still outstanding.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/04/asb.00.html

Where is Salam Zaeef....

http://www.dawn.com/2005/09/13/int12.htm

http://indiamonitor.com/news/readNews.jsp?ni=10435


Will Salam Zaeef do the psychological exam?

[Mr_Spock]

17. Afghan judge says Christian convert case is flawed

Afghan judge says Christian convert case is flawed

By Sayed Salahuddin | March 26, 2006

KABUL (Reuters) - The judge presiding over the case of an Afghan man who could face the death penalty for converting to Christianity said on Sunday the case was flawed and would be sent back to prosecutors.

The row over the man, Abdur Rahman, 40, jailed this month for abandoning Islam, threatens to create a rift between Afghanistan and the United States and other Western backers who have been calling for the man's release.

"The case, because of some technical as well as legal flaws and shortcomings, has been referred back to the prosecutor's office," the judge, Ansarullah Mawlavizada, told Reuters.

He declined to elaborate or say if the review would delay the trial, which had been due to begin in coming days.

A prosecutor said Rahman's mental state would be examined on Monday following suggestions that he may be mentally unstable.

...

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/03/26/afghan_judge_says_christian_convert_case_is_flawed/

[maddezmom]

26. Do you think they may try to retry him at a later date?

:shrug:

[sattahipdeep]

27. Speculation

Not surprisingly, there is speculation that Abdul Rahman may
leave Afghanistan once he's out of jail.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1176969,00.html

:hi:

[Mr_Spock]

28. Yeah, I think he'd better get out of that place while the gettin's good

agreed?

[sattahipdeep]

32. Is Abdul Rahman a point - prover?

Showing the world nothing has changed.

Is it going to take merc's to get him out?

Zaeef says you cant defect but you can die.

Is Salam Zaeef giving the psychological exam?

Or....
Evidently Abdul Rahman was under the impression the goverment had changed.

[pepperbear]

18. Afghan Court Drops Case Against Christian

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060322050709990001&ncid=NWS00010000000001


Updated: 12:43 PM EST
Afghan Court Drops Case Against Christian
By DANIEL COONEY, AP

KABUL, Afghanistan (March 26) - An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released soon, officials said......

*snip*



this is great news, but how long do you think it'll take before a fundie freeper says IT WAS BECAUSE OF THE POWER OF PRAYER!? Still, great news but I don't think we need more fuel added to the fire of the NEW CRUSADE.

[Moderator]

19. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2188892

[supernova]

20. And vigiliantes are free to take up the cause

I'm glad that guy got off but I doubt the fundamentalists Islamists will be satisfied with an appeasment verdict for Washington. They are free to mow him down in the streets.

He's going to have to leave Afganistan if he expects to live out the rest of his natural life span.

[LiberalFighter]

21. Not enough evidence?

How much evidence do they need beyond the man refusing to convert back to Muslim?

And then there is the claim that he has mental problems? Would they be saying that Christians are mentally unstabled?

[supernova]

23. May be that was the only way

under Islamic law they could get him off without causing a furor. To just claim he was unstable. Doesn't mean it's true, it's just that maybe that was the only "logic" they could put forth that would satisfy the need for a trial AND get the world off their backs.

[wellst0nev0ter]

25. Finally, Some Good News

but the secret is still out. Convert to christianity, you'll face execution by the "liberated" government.

[Jack Rabbit]

29. Good news

!!

[daleo]

30. This will play well in the west (so far)

But not in Afghanistan. The locals will see this as proof that Karzai is a puppet of the Christian west.

[Maeve]

33. I wonder....in evangelical circles, there is a saying

"If being a Christian were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

I hope he is safe and well. But the whole case says reams about our "success" in Afghanistan. :eyes:

[daleo]

35. That's a good quote

Suppose this fellow escapes death for conversion on the grounds he is crazy? I can't imagine Christian fundamentalists will be very happy about that.

[varun]

31. Proselytization is a crime in many Muslim nations

and practicing non-Islamic faith is strictly regulated in countries such as Saudi Arabia.

One of my Indian friends told me that faces of Hindu Gods were defaced in the mail he recieved from India while he was living in Saudi Arabia.

...and they are Bush's best buddies :eyes:

[fujiyama]

38. People may hate to hear it

but the truth is Islamic nations are among the most intolerant nations on earth, especially regarding freedom of religion.

Any nation which is religious in nature is prone to be controlled by fundamentalists. Theocracy simply does not allow democracy to flourish. It's antithetical.

[fujiyama]

37. It's very unfortunate

what this man has had to go through, but it's also an incredibly important reminder to Americans that this war was never won.

Americans have forgotten about Afghanistan and I hope this reminds the people what a failure it is. Dems should be using this as the best example yet of what a failure Afghanistan is.

Why were Islamists allowed to keep control of the judiciary? Why has it never pointed out that Powell made statements like, "moderate Taliban can remain in power" after the "fall" of the Taliban? Powell was a worthless fucker. I know Kerry tried pointing out what a hack job Bush did, but Dems (including Clinton) were always irrationally obsessed with Saddam and nonexistant WMDs.

What moderate Taliban? This is Democracy? What the fuck are Americans dying for over there? A fuckin sideshow is all Afghanistan ever was. Bush never took it seriously. He never cared what happened.

As long as the man that tried to "kill his daddy" would be taken care of.

[burrowowl]

39. They are dropping case

because he is "mad (i.e. crazy).

See article:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BB654F1-7D5C-4E7D-B251-28A6E20A461D.htm

Not much progress there for civil and human rights as we know them. Women not fairing too well either.

[sattahipdeep]

40. Policharki prison

Authorities have barred journalists from seeing Rahman. :eyes:

A warden at Policharki said Rahman was still at the jail Monday, detained
in a concrete cell by himself.

Policharki, which houses some 2,000 inmates, including about
350 Taliban and al-Qaida militants. :eyes:

Prison warden Gen. Amirpur vouched for the prisoner's safety.
"We are watching him constantly. This is a very sensitive case
so he needs high security."

A senior guard said inmates and many guards had not been told of
Rahman's identity because of fears they might attack him. :eyes:

Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1771924
....
Bloody Afghan prison siege over
From correspondents in Policharki, Afghanistan

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18322010%255E1702,00.html

:hi: