Under fredagsbønnen i Afghanistan sto de skriftlærde fast ved at Abdul Rahman (41) må dømmes til døden for frafall fra islam. Saken setter forholdet til Afghanistan på en prøve.

Afghan clerics used Friday Prayers at mosques across the capital to call for death for an Afghan man who converted to Christianity, despite widespread protest in the West.

As the international pressure on Afghanistan grew, the clerics demanded the execution of the Afghan, Abdul Rahman 41, if he does not convert back to Islam. His conversion 15 years ago was brought to the attention of Afghan authorities as part of a child custody dispute.

The Bush administration and European governments have strongly protested the case as a violation of religious freedom.
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The case has exposed the contradictions within Afghanistan’s constitution, which promises freedom of religion on the one hand, and on the other declares Islam supreme. Secretary Rice acknowledged that problem today, when she observed that «Afghanistan is in its evolutionary state as a democratic state and will have to work to resolve these contradictions as they move forward,» she said. «But we’ve been very clear. The freedom of religion is a fundamental principle of democracy.»

Shiekh Asif Muhsini, a Shiite cleric, emphasized that the constitution says, «No law can contradict Islam and the values of the constitution.»

The case had fueled feelings among many here of a sense of assault against Islam worldwide, coming after widely publicized cases involving the desecration of the Koran in Guantánamo Bay in 2004 by American soldiers interrogating prisoners and, more recently, cartoons published in Europe of the Prophet Muhammad.

Afghan Clerics, in Friday Prayers, Call for Convert’s Execution