Afghans grapple for solution to convert crisis

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan officials, trying to resolve a crisis over an Afghan who may face the death penalty for converting to Christianity, struggled on Saturday to satisfy conflicting international and domestic demands.

The controversy over the man who abandoned Islam, Abdur Rahman, 40, threatens to drive a wedge between Afghanistan and the Western backers who ensure its security and finance its development. Rahman's trial is due to start in a few days.

International pressure on Afghanistan to respect Rahman's religious freedom and release him from jail has been met in Afghanistan by calls for him to be tried under Islamic law and executed, and a threat of rebellion if the government frees him.

"There are lots of discussions going on," said a government official who declined to be identified.

"We know there's a lot of international concern ... We want to resolve this in a way that accommodates all expectations - international expectations and the expectations of the people."

Rahman was detained last week for converting to Christianity, judicial officials say. Death is the punishment stipulated by sharia, or Islamic law, for apostasy. The Afghan legal system is based on a mixture of civil and sharia law.

The case has sparked an outcry in North America and Europe and led to some calls for peacekeeping troops to be withdrawn.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday she had met both President Hamid Karzai and the foreign minister.

"We are working with the Afghans and we look to a favourable resolution of this case," Rice said. "We've been very clear: The freedom of religion is a fundamental principle of democracy."

U.S. forces have been battling Taliban insurgents since defeating their government in late 2001. The United States is Afghanistan's most important ally. Pope Benedict has written to Karzai urging clemency for Rahman, the Italian news agency ANSA said on Saturday.

Benedict sent a letter in the past few days "which appeals for respect for human rights sanctioned in the preamble of the new Afghan constitution," it added.

KABUL, Sunday, Reuters