An Afghan Christian, detained for months for allegedly converting to Christianity from Islam, could face trial next week - and could face a potential death penalty, officials said.

The Afghan Constitution does not mention converting from one religion to another, so the judge will take Islamic law into account, officials said.

Qamaruddin Shenwari, director of the Kabul courts' north zone said: 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.

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

The U.S. State Department said last week 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. Christians, Hindus and Sikhs - as well as Muslims whose practices don't satisfy the government or society - suffer intolerance in the form of harassment, occasional violence, discrimination and inflammatory public statements, the report said. It estimated the Afghan Christian community ranges from 500 to 8,000 people.

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that a judge has given an Afghan convert from Islam to Christianity a week to renounce his faith, or else be sentenced with the death penalty or up to twenty years' imprisonment. The verdict is expected this week.

Shoaib Assadullah was arrested on October 21 in Mazar-e-Sharif for giving a Bible to a man who later reported him to local authorities. He is currently in a prison in Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan, said an ICC spokesperson.

Afghanistan is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). According to article 18, Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Said Musa, the Afghan Christian who was facing the death sentence for converting from Islam, has been released from the prison in Kabul, a Christian persecution watchdog has reported.

Aidan Clay, of International Christian Concern, told The Christian Post (CP) that his source, who is a good friend of Clay and Musa, told him today that he had been contacted by a representative from the US Embassy in Kabul on February 21, who informed him that Musa had been released from prison.

It was a very tense situation. The US government and others didn't want anything to go wrong. Everything needed to be done very, very quietly because of the political ramifications that it could have had, Clay told CP.

Apparent Release

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Following the release of Said Musa (or Sayed Mussa, reported recently in the NYT and elsewhere), pressure is now being put onto Afghanistan to release Shoaib Assadullah. Both are Christian converts from Islam. International exposure of Said's case reportedly led to strong but quiet diplomacy, and so to his apparent release (apparent because no one has talked with him, not even his wife who is now in Pakistan).

Dangerous Beliefs

See article from christianpost.com

Barnabas Fund is appealing to the United Nations to intervene after India refused to grant refuge to six Afghan converts. Related

The converts were named only as Rahimullah and Rita, who have three children, another couple Mohammad and Aisha, who have two children, and two sisters Shazia and Sunita.

They fled to India after converting from Islam to Christianity, but now face being deported back to Afghanistan where they could be arrested and sentenced to death for apostasy.

Rahimullah and Rita have submitted an appeal application to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in which they express their fears about returning home: As we are converted and baptized Christians, we are deeply fearful for our lives. In the light of the situation in Afghanistan, we will be sentenced to death and executed by the government or we could be stoned and burned by the people.