ROME (Reuters):
ITALY AND Germany, NATO countries with troops in Afghanistan, expressed urgent concern to the Kabul government yesterday about reports that an Afghan convert to Christianity faced the death penalty there.
Italy called in the Afghan ambassador in Rome and its former President Francesco Cossiga suggested withdrawing Italian troops unless the man is spared. Two Berlin cabinet ministers spoke out and Germany's top Catholic cardinal demanded his freedom.
The protests present a dilemma for President Hamid Karzai, a key ally in the United States-led war on terrorism, who needs foreign troops to defend against al Qaeda and Taliban remnants. Germany has 2,700 soldiers in Afghanistan and Italy 1,775.
An Afghan judge said on Sunday a man named Abdur Rahman had been jailed for converting from Islam to Christianity and could face the death penalty if he refused to become a Muslim again. Islamic Sharia law stipulates death for apostasy.
"If this news is confirmed, Italy will move at the highest level ... to prevent something which is incompatible with the defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms," an Italian Foreign Ministry statement said.
Cossiga wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, now campaigning for reelection, and urged him to withdraw Italian troops from Afghanistan unless he wins assurances from Kabul over Rahman's safety.
"It is not acceptable that our soldiers should put themselves at risk or even sacrifice their lives for a fundamentalist, illiberal regime," Cossiga wrote.
CARDINAL URGES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
"We will do everything possible to save the life of Abdul Rahman," German Development Minister Heide Wieczorek-Zeul told the daily Bild, which said Rahman had converted to Christianity while living in Germany for nine years.
Wieczorek-Zeul said she would appeal to Karzai directly.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed "deep concern" and said he would also intervene if necessary. Berlin's embassy in Kabul was "in close contact with the Afghan side" on this, he told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.
Germany's top Catholic prelate, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, described the case against Rahman as "an alarming signal."
