Afghan court to decide fate of convert

Under mounting international pressure over the case of a man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity, Afghanistan said yesterday that its judiciary alone would decide the case.

US President George W. Bush said he was deeply troubled by the case of Abdur Rahman, who an Afghan judge said this week had been jailed for converting from Islam to Christianity and could face the death penalty if he refused to become a Muslim again.

Death is one of the punishments stipulated by Sharia, or Islamic law, for apostasy. The Afghan legal system is based on a mix of civil and sharia law.

"We in Afghanistan have the prosecutor who observes the law and the court that executes it. Whatever the court orders will be executed as the court is independent," said Mahaiuddin Baluch, a religious affairs adviser to President Hamid Karzai.

Mr Bush said in Wheeling, West Virginia: "It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another."

"We have got influence in Afghanistan and we are going to use it to remind them that there are universal values," he said.

The US and three other Nato allies with troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday urged respect for religious freedom. German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice to those of Western leaders expressing concern.

In response, Afghan Economy Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang criticised the "heated and emotional reactions of German politicians" and said proposals there to withdraw German troops in protest amounted to blackmail against Mr Karzai's government.