Prosecutor questions convert's sanity

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan man facing a possible death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.

Abdul Rahman, 41, has been charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under Afghanistan's Islamic laws. His trial started last week, and he confessed to becoming a Christian 16 years ago. If convicted, he could be executed.

"We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person," prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari said.

Moayuddin Baluch, a religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, said Rahman would undergo a psychological examination. "If he is mentally unfit, definitely Islam has no claim to punish him," he said. "The case must be dropped."

A Western diplomat in Kabul and a human-rights advocate — both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity — said the government was desperately searching for a way to drop the case.

Indeed, diplomats in several countries said they had been assured Rahman would not be put to death, and Afghan diplomatic sources confirmed this.

The United States, Britain and other countries that have troops in Afghanistan have voiced concern about Rahman's fate. President Bush said Wednesday he was "deeply troubled" and expects the country to "honor the universal principle of freedom.

NATO's top diplomat, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said he would call Karzai to insist the case be dropped.

The case highlights a struggle between religious conservatives and reformers over what shape Islam should take four years after the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban regime.

Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which is interpreted by many Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death.

Rahman is believed to have converted to Christianity while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group in Pakistan. Police arrested him last month after discovering him in possession of a Bible during a custody dispute regarding his two daughters.

Material from The Washington Post is included in this report.