Abdul Rahman (Dari: عبدالرحمن; born 1965) is an Afghan man whose arrest and trial in February 2006 sparked widespread controversy among the international community.
Abdul Rahman had been arrested by Afghan authorities for apostasy and subsequently threatened with the death penalty.
He had converted to Christianity from Islam while providing medical assistance to Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan.
[7] In 1993, he moved to Germany and later, he unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium[8] before he was deported to Afghanistan[9] in 2002, after the fall of the Taliban government.
[6] Article 130 of the Constitution of Afghanistan enables prosecutors to charge him for apostasy "in accordance with the Hanafi jurisprudence".
The text of the article says: In cases under consideration, the courts shall apply provisions of this Constitution as well as other laws.
[13] Prosecutor Abdul Wasi demanded his repentance and called him a traitor: "He should be cut off and removed from the rest of Muslim society and should be killed."
Ansarullah Mawlawizadah, the chief judge in the case, said that Abdul Rahman would be asked to reconsider his conversion: "We will invite him again because the religion of Islam is one of tolerance.
[21] The Afghan Embassy in Washington, D.C. announced on March 22 that the country's judicial system was evaluating Abdul Rahman's mental fitness.
Moayuddin Baluch, a religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai confirmed that Abdul Rahman would undergo a psychological examination.
[19] An Afghanistan state prosecutor named Sarinwal Zamari said of Abdul Rahman in an interview with the Associated Press on March 22, 2006, "We think he could be mad.
[24] Diplomats said that the Afghan government was "desperately searching for a way to drop the case"[14] by declaring Abdul Rahman mentally unfit to stand trial.
Critics said that declaring him insane would not solve what they regarded as a constitutional flaw that allows prosecution under Islamic law.
An editorial in The Washington Times wrote that declaring him mentally unfit is "a manufactured loophole" which would enable the Afghan government "to back down to avoid a disastrous internal and diplomatic crisis.
"[27] A New York Times editorial echoed these sentiments, saying that declaring Abdul Rahman mentally incompetent was a way for the Afghan government to "avoid the mess" and "that would be a cheap trick because the law would remain on the books.
"[28] In France, Marianne magazine stated Western critics of the case might not be satisfied if the Kabul court avoided the death sentence for Abdul Rahman by declaring him insane and unfit for trial.
A special government meeting on his case was held on the following day during which President Hamid Karzai conferred with several Cabinet ministers for a way to free him without angering the country's powerful conservative Muslim clerics who have called for Abdul Rahman's execution.
[30][31] After this meeting an unnamed senior government official said there is a "strong possibility" that Abdul Rahman would be freed on Sunday the 26th.
Later on Sunday the judge made the following statement: "The case, because of some technical as well as legal flaws and shortcomings, has been referred back to the prosecutor's office".
[36] Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted an unidentified Afghan official as saying that President Hamid Karzai has personally interfered in Abdul Rahman's case to secure the convert's release.
"[37] Former Afghanistan Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah said during a press conference with US Under Secretary for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns, "I know that it is a very sensitive issue and we know the concerns of the American people.
Maulavi Habibullah told more than a thousand clerics and young people who gathered in Kabul that "Afghanistan does not have any obligation under international laws.
"[42] Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, a prominent mujahidin leader and head of the Hizb-i-Iqtadar-i-Islami Afghanistan, and former acting prime minister in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani before the Taliban came to power in 1996, said, "Regardless of the court decision [whether or not he is hanged], there is unanimous agreement by all religious scholars from the north to the south, the east to the west of Afghanistan, that Abdul Rahman should be executed.
During his sermon at Herati Mosque on March 24, 2006, Raouf told around 150 worshippers that Abdul Rahman deserved death since he had "committed the greatest sin.
"[44] Mirhossain Nasri, the top cleric at Hossainia Mosque, said "If he is allowed to live in the West, then others will claim to be Christian so they can too", he said.
"[6] Muslim cleric Mohammed Qasim who resides in the northern city of Mazari Sharif, said: "We don't care if the West drops its support for us.
"[45][46] The BBC assesses that many members of the Afghan public are vocal in support of Abdul Rahman's execution, though it does not estimate if these are in the majority.
Mohammed Qadir agrees that he must be executed: "According to Islamic law he should be sentenced to death because Christianity is forbidden in our land".
"[47] A number of Western countries and NGOs condemned his trial as a human rights violation and called for the release of the Afghan convert.