Further information:
Kabul, Afghanistan - Senior Muslim clerics demanded Thursday that an Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity be executed, warning that if the government caves in to Western pressure and frees him, they will incite people to "pull him into pieces."
In an unusual move, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned President Hamid Karzai seeking a "favorable resolution" of the case of Abdul Rahman, 41. The former medical aid worker faces the death penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for becoming a Christian.
His trial has fired passions in this conservative Muslim nation and highlighted a conflict of values between Afghanistan and its Western backers.
"Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die," said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is considered a moderate and who was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban before the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001.
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If this weren't so serious, I'd find it rolling-on-the-floor laughable. For one thing, the concept that "God can be humiliated" in the words of some fundie whack-jhob [sic] is absolutely ludicrous; if Muslims would shut up for just a second and actually read and reflect upon the words of their "script", they'd know that such a statement is complete and utter nonsense; Their God is so far beyond such petty encumbrances as human emotion and/or pride as to render such a concept meaningless.
And then there is the mob action aspect of it: "[...] warning that if the government caves in to Western pressure and frees him, they will incite people to "pull him into pieces." Puh-fucking-LEEEZE! There's a press release for "the tolerance of Islam" alright!
