Death to the convert

last updated 8 January 2015

Kabul

An Afghan man who converted to Christianity is subject to the death penalty, a judge ruled this week. Abdul Rahman, 42, who converted during a nine-year stay in Germany, faces execution under Afghanistan’s Islamic law if he refuses to become a Muslim again. “We are not against any particular religion in the world,” the judge said. “But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law.” The Afghan legal system is more moderate than it was under the Taliban, when criminals’ hands were chopped off and women were stoned if their faces were not covered. But it still follows a strict form of sharia.