Freedom Folks: Rahman's "Mental Fitness" Questioned

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 this country's Islamic laws. His trial started last week and he confessed to becoming a Christian 16 years ago. If convicted, he could be executed.

It's all here.

Jake's previous coverage of this story is here.

Afghanistan is really getting heat on this one, and they need more. This sounds like an out to me...we'd like to kill him for being a Christian, but -- oh lookie! -- he must be mentally unsound because he's a Christian! Or, as the prosecutor put it:

"We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person."

I'm just guessing, but I think a "normal person" means someone of the Islamic faith who thinks converting to Christianity should be punishable by death. Like this guy:

"For 30 years, we have fought religious wars in this country and there is no way we are going to allow an Afghan to insult us by becoming Christian," said Mohammed Jan, 38, who lives opposite Rahman's father, Abdul Manan, in Kabul. "This has brought so much shame."

I guess it makes some kind of crazy, disturbing sense that someone who would be offended by this...