Afghan Could Get Death for Becoming a Christian

He converted to Christianity 16 years ago as an aid worker in Pakistan, an offense punishable by death under Sharia law.

If you’re shaking your head over this resurgence of religious fundamentalism, check out this earlier story on the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan.

BBC:

An Afghan man is being tried in a court in the capital, Kabul, for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could face the death sentence under Sharia law unless he recants. He converted 16 years ago as an aid worker helping refugees in Pakistan. His estranged family denounced him in a custody dispute over his two children. It is thought to be Afghanistan’s first such trial, reflecting tensions between conservative clerics and reformists.

Conservatives still dominate the Afghan judiciary four years after the Taleban were overthrown.

Full story

AP

Afghan Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada holds a Bible in Kabul, Monday, March 20, that he says belongs to Abdul Rahman. Rahman could be sentenced to death after being charged with converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under Afghanistan’s Islamic laws.