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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Senior Muslim clerics are demanding 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."

In an unusual move, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned President Hamid Karzai on Thursday seeking a "favorable resolution" of the case of Abdul Rahman. The 41-year-old former medical aid worker faces the death penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for becoming a Christian.

His trial has fired passions in this conservative Muslim nation and highlighted a conflict of values between Afghanistan and its Western backers.

"Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die," said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is considered a moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban before the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001.

Further along in the article.


But three Sunni preachers and a Shiite one interviewed by The Associated Press in four of Kabul's most popular mosques said they do not believe Rahman is insane.

"He is not crazy. He went in front of the media and confessed to being a Christian," said Hamidullah, chief cleric at Haji Yacob Mosque. "The government is scared of the international community. But the people will kill him if he is freed."

Raoulf, who is a member of the country's main Islamic organization, the Afghan Ulama Council, concurred. "The government is playing games. The people will not be fooled."

"Cut off his head!" he exclaimed, sitting in a courtyard outside Herati Mosque. "We will call on the people to pull him into pieces so there's nothing left."

He said the only way for Rahman to survive would be for him to go into exile.

But Said Mirhossain Nasri, the top cleric at Hossainia Mosque, one of the largest Shiite places of worship in Kabul, said Rahman must not be allowed to leave the country.

"If he is allowed to live in the West, then others will claim to be Christian so they can, too," he said. "We must set an example. ... He must be hanged."

politics doesn't change unless there is a crisis.

Eventually what this controversial Christian needs is a ghost writer and a good PR firm.. all imo.

Ah yes...the religion of peace and tolerance...Ain't life grand? Maybe in 800 years they will reach a level of civilized behavior that will be acceptable,,,but wait..the rest of the world will have moved on as well..So Islam will still be 800 years behind the times.

Hd, pls put something in the subject line, will get a lot more traffic I bet.

This really tells a lot about Islam. For the followers of Islam, you are either part of their religion or deserve to be put to death. They do not want any "competition" what so ever and instead of being like the rest of the free world and living with other options, they eliminate anyone who is not like them.

I have heard Islam called the religion of of the uneducated and when you hear of something like this its not hard to see why.

The funny thing is that it was his own family that has filed the charges against him and are asking for his death. Evidently there is some sort of child custody battle going on with this guy.

My first thought was, "Why do we (the US government, actually) care?". I mean Condi calls up and pleads for a "favorable resolution"? People are killed all over the world for lesser things and we don't even bat an eye.

Mike

So we & they *****ed because the Tali's were to extreme with their version of the Koran, we fix's that, or did we..we need to leave these places and take him with us. We may as well be dealing with Martians. They have no middle ground on this. As mentioned above, so far behind on the evo. scale, they act like they just discovered fire.
Rika