Italy grants asylum to Afghan convert facing death

ITALY yesterday granted asylum to an Afghan man who faced the death penalty and threats for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi said that Abdul Rahman had arrived in Italy earlier in the day and was now in the care of Italy’s Interior Ministry.

“He is already in Italy,” Mr Berlusconi said. “I think he arrived overnight.”

The premier declined to release more details.

The jailing of Mr Rahman, aged 41, inspired an appeal by Pope Benedict XVI to Afghan president Hamid Karzai and efforts by the UN to find a country to take him. Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini had been outspoken about the case from the start.

Conversion is a crime under Afghanistan’s Islamic law. Mr Rahman was arrested last month after police discovered him with a Bible. He was brought to trial last week for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Afghanistan’s parliament had demanded earlier yesterday the government prevent Mr Rahman from being able to flee the country.

Germany, where Mr Rahman once lived, praised the Italian offer. “This is a humanitarian signal and we welcome it,” said a government spokesman.

Anticipating that Italy’s cabinet would approve Mr Rahman’s asylum, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said on Tuesday that such a move would bring “all the forms of protection and assistance” related to recognising refugee status.

Italy has close ties with Afghanistan, whose former king, Mohammed Zaher Shah, was allowed to live with his family in exile in Rome for 30 years. The former royals returned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime a few years ago.

Italian troops were sent into Afghanistan after the US-led invasion of the country in 2001 to help with reconstruction. Muslim clerics in Afghanistan condemned Mr Rahman’s release, saying it was a “betrayal of Islam”, and threatened to incite violent protests. Some 500 Muslim leaders, students and others gathered in a mosque in southern Qalat town and criticised the government for releasing Mr Rahman, said Abdulrahman Jan, the top cleric in Zabul province. He said the government should either force Mr Rahman to convert back to Islam or kill him.