Christian conversion a capital offense.(Abdul Rahman)

Sixteen years ago, Afghan native Abdul Rahman, born and raised a Muslim, became a Christian. Under the tenets of Islam as propounded by Mohammed and enforced by most religious leaders who esteem him as Allah's Prophet, it is a capital offense to "apostatize" from that faith.

After returning to "liberated" Afghanistan following a long stint living abroad, Rahman became involved in a custody dispute over his two daughters. During the investigation, his own family--in fidelity to their duties as prescribed by Islamic Sharia law--informed authorities that he had converted to Christianity. Rahman was arrested and charged with apostasy.

On March 27, Afghan authorities announced that the case against Rahman would be dismissed because of evidentiary problems. Rahman was to be freed from prison following his request for asylum in another country. "Several Muslim clerics ... threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he [was] freed, saying he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die," reported an AP dispatch from Kabul.

In Afghanistan, as in Iraq, the constitution supposedly guarantees religious freedom, but specifies that Islam is the supreme law of the land. In practice this means that Afghans and Iraqis enjoy unqualified freedom to submit ("Islam" means "submission") to Mohammed's religion. And since the overwhelming majority in each of those "liberated" countries is Muslim, the official persecution of Christians and other non-Muslim religious people is perfectly ...