Afghanistan Postpones Trial Christian Convert; Execution Pending

[WorthyNewsBot]

by Stefan Bos, Worthy News Correspondent

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (Worthy News)-- Afghanistan has postponed the trial of a disabled man who faces the death penalty for allegedly converting from Islam to Christianity, trial observers and officials said Tuesday, November 23.

Said Musa, 45, was to appear without a lawyer Sunday, November 21, in front of a court where a judge was expected to use 'sharia', the word for Islamic law, to reach a verdict.

Officials suggested that the trial was delayed to give the court more time to study the case amid international concerns he may be executed under legislation that was introduced by the toppled Taliban regime.

The trial was still expected to begin this week.

Musa was detained in Kabul in May after footage was nationally televised of Muslim converts to Christianity being baptized. The broadcast triggered protests throughout the country and a national government crackdown against Christian converts, according to rights activists and Christians.

ISLAMIC LAW

In published remarks, Qamaruddin Shenwari, director of the Kabul courts' north zone, said the judge will likely take Islamic law into account, despite international concerns.

"According to Afghanistan's constitution, if there is no clear verdict as to whether an act is criminal or not in the penal code of the Afghan Constitution, then it would be referred to sharia law where the judge has an open hand in reaching a verdict," Shenwari was quoted as saying.

Under sharia law, converting from Islam to Christianity is punishable by death.

International Christian Concern (ICC), a United States-based advocacy group, told Worthy News it was surprised about the trial as Afghanistan is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which bans executions for crimes not mentioned by national or international law.

INTERNATIONAL AID

"Millions of dollars have been invested by the international community to build Afghanistan’s judicial system by training judges, prosecutors, and others to follow Afghanistan's constitution," recalled Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East.

"The fruit of this investment, as far as religious freedom is concerned, is that an innocent man may be tried under the same Sharia law used by the Taliban," Clay added.

Last week, the U.S. State Department also said in its annual International Religious Freedom Report that "respect for religious freedom" decreased in Afghanistan in the last year, "particularly toward Christian groups and individuals."

Clay said he fears Musa will "stand before a Muslim court without representation and will likely be asked to renounce his Christian beliefs. His response to that question may determine his fate, and before a sharia court, his sentence may be death."

AFGHANISTAN EMBASSIES

He said ICC has asked its supporters to contact Afghan embassies and consulates in their countries asking Afghan officials to grant a fair trial to Said Musa, whose name is also spelled by some organizations as Sayed Mossa.

Clay stressed that ICC also demands that Musa's trial be delayed until he is given legal representation. Musa suggested in a handwritten letter carried out of his Kabul prison that so far lawyers have refused to defend him.

"Nobody [want to be my] defender before the court. When I said 'I am a Christian man', he [a potential lawyer]

[Babbler]

This story proves that American lives and money have been wasted. The neoconservative agenda of democratizing Afghanistan is a joke. The next timer I see a soldier stating how he is there to "fight for freedom", I will always believe our leaders have betrayed him. Afghanistan sounds no different than before we invaded.