Abdul Rahman (convert) facts for kids

Abdul Rahman (Dari: عبدالرحمن; born 1965) is an Afghan man whose arrest and trial in February 2006 sparked widespread controversy among the international community. 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. On 26 March 2006, under heavy pressure from foreign governments, the Afghan court returned his case to prosecutors, citing "investigative gaps"; Rahman was released from prison and remanded to his family on the night of 27 March. On 29 March, Abdul Rahman arrived in Italy after being offered asylum by the Italian government. Representatives within the Afghan government and many Afghan citizens continued to call for Rahman's execution, and his wife divorced him shortly after his conversion, leading to an unsuccessful custody battle for their two children.

The case became a cause célèbre internationally, and particularly throughout the Western world. Harsh condemnation came from the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which were the world's leading donors of international aid to Afghanistan at the time. The Afghan government's integrity was called into question, as it had recently been established under the aegis of the War in Afghanistan, shortly after an American-led military coalition overthrew the country's Taliban government.

Early life

Abdul Rahman was born in 1965.

In 1990, while he was working as a staff member for a Catholic non-governmental aid group which was providing medical assistance to Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan, he learned about Christianity and he was subsequently baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. After his conversion, he adopted the biblical name Joel.

In 1993, he moved to Germany and later, he unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium before he was deported to Afghanistan in 2002, after the fall of the Taliban government.

Abdul Rahman's wife divorced him because of his conversion to Catholicism. In the ensuing custody battle over the couple's two daughters, who had been raised by Abdul Rahman's parents during his absence, the mother's family raised the issue of his religion as grounds for their denial of his custody.

When he returned to Afghanistan, he was disowned by his parents, who stated: "Because he has converted from Islam to another religion we don't want him in our house" and "Abdul Rahman wanted to change the ethics of my children and family. He is not going in the right direction. I have thrown him out of my house", while his daughters said that "He behaves badly with us and we were threatened and disgraced by him. He has no job and has never given me a stitch of clothing or a crust of bread. Just his name as a father" and "He said he was my father but he hasn't behaved like a father since he came back to Afghanistan. He threatens us and we are all afraid of him and he doesn't believe in the religion of Islam."

Arrest and trial

In February 2006, members of his family reported him to the police. He was arrested after police discovered that he possessed a Bible. After his arrest, he was unable to find a lawyer in Kabul willing to represent him. Authorities barred attempts by the Associated Press news agency to see him.

Article 130 of the Constitution of Afghanistan enables prosecutors to charge him for apostasy "in accordance with the Hanafi jurisprudence". Prosecutors asked for the death penalty for Abdul Rahman, calling him a "microbe". Prosecutor Abdul Wasi demanded his repentance and called him a traitor.

Abdul Rahman's judicial proceedings, which began on 16 March and became widely known in the international press on 19 March, were overseen by three judges in the public security tribunal of Kabul's primary court. 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. We will ask him if he has changed his mind. If so we will forgive him."

Even though he was facing a possible death sentence, Abdul Rahman held firm to his convictions: "They want to sentence me to death and I accept it ... I am a Christian, which means I believe in the Trinity ... I believe in Jesus Christ."

Efforts by Afghan Christians

While Abdul Rahman was on trial, a number of Afghan Christians worked to bring the attention of the international media towards the suffering of the Afghan Christians and especially Abdul Rahman.

Mental fitness to stand trial

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. Judge Mawlawizadah stated that since Rahman refused to repent then his mental state was being examined. If he was found to be mentally unfit, the case would be dismissed.

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. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person. Doctors must examine him. If he is mentally unfit, definitely Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven. The case must be dropped." Other sources said Rahman is "perennially jobless and mentally unbalanced".

Prosecutor Abdul Wasei said he doubted claims regarding Abdul Rahman's mental instability. "I did not see any kind of mental problem in this case", he said. Wasei said that Rahman, when asked about his mental health, insisted that it was fine. "I am O.K., you can prosecute me, I can answer your questions", Wasei said Rahman told him.

Diplomats said that the Afghan government was "desperately searching for a way to drop the case" by declaring Abdul Rahman mentally unfit to stand trial.

The court also raised questions about Rahman's nationality. Rahman had lived abroad, in Germany, Greece and Belgium. If he had acquired dual nationality, it was argued, the status of his case could change.

There were various opinions regarding Abdul Rahman being declared unfit for 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. This solution, such as it is, won't resolve the underlying discrepancy in Afghanistan's constitution." 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."

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. "If he is not tried, he will probably end up in a psychiatric hospital, which for a man of sound mind is sometimes worse than death."

Release

On March 24, 2006, Afghan authorities announced that they were considering releasing Abdul Rahman soon. 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. After this meeting an unnamed senior government official said there is a "strong possibility" that Abdul Rahman would be freed on Sunday the 26th. However the prosecutor dismissed any claims that Abdul Rahman was to be released. 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".

Clerics question President Karzai's authority to order Abdul Rahman's release. Cleric Khoja Ahmad Sediqi, a member of the Supreme Court in Afghanistan, warned against interfering with the courts, saying that "The Qur'an is very clear and the words of our prophet are very clear. There can only be one outcome: death. If Karzai releases him, it will play into the hands of our enemy and there could be an uprising."

On March 28, 2006, the AP reported that Abdul Rahman had been released. The announcement came after the United Nations said he had appealed for asylum outside Afghanistan.

On March 29, 2006, Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi announced that his cabinet had approved Rahman's asylum plea and Rahman had already arrived in Italy.

International reactions

Threats to cut off aid to Afghanistan

Germany, which is involved in the UN-mandated International Security Assistance force in Afghanistan and also heads an international effort improving Afghanistan's police force, has suggested that Afghanistan could potentially lose aid or technical support for reconstruction efforts depending on the outcome of Abdul Rahman's case. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has stated "I highly support the idea that we make it clear to Afghanistan, in every way possible, that abiding by and protecting human rights, which Afghanistan is obliged to, includes [protecting the] freedom of religion." Schäuble also said, "We contribute a lot to rebuilding Afghanistan and towards its stability, so I truly believe that Afghanistan must realize that we insist upon the freedom of religion. You cannot punish people because they change their religion."

In response to Schäuble's comments, Afghan Economy Minister Amin Farhang said that the government in Kabul cannot stop donor countries from withholding aid or technical support, but consequences of such withdrawals would be worse for Western countries than Afghanistan. Farhang stated: "I think that politicians in the West, including in Germany, reacted very emotionally. It shouldn't be like that. There's a lack of information. And besides, while the situation hasn't been resolved and the final decision hasn't been made yet, they can't threaten to withdraw security forces or foreign aid. That amounts to blackmail." Farhang also said that Kabul is attempting to build democracy after the Taliban was forced from power by US forces in 2001, but that the right to convert from Islam to Christianity is too extreme for a traditional Islamic society such as Afghanistan which upholds the Islamic punishment for apostasy. He also stated: "Afghanistan cannot switch suddenly from one extreme to the other."

See also

In Spanish: Abdul Rahman para niños

• Kamilia Shehata
• Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
• Islam and other religions
• Persecution of Christians
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights