Sunday, March 26, 2006

Good Lord, I half-agree with Michelle Malkin:

Condi Rice thinks Afghanistan has "come a long way" because when the Taliban ruled, they "wantonly" executed people for playing music (as opposed to now, you know, where executions of people for abandoning Islam are contemplated in a much more civilized, non-wanton manner.)

I hate to admit it, but she actually has the best roundup of news I've seen on the Abdel Rahman case -- yes, an Afghan court has dismissed the case against him, but this is disturbing:

Some Islamic clerics had called for him to be put to death, saying Rahman would face danger from his countrymen if he were released.

Earlier Sunday he was moved to a notorious maximum-security prison outside Kabul that is also home to hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida militants. The move to Policharki Prison came after detainees threatened his life at an overcrowded police holding facility in central Kabul, a court official said....


Policharki was the site of an uprising last month in which four inmates died. It's also -- small world! -- the prison where freelance torturer Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema is being held. Hey, if he's such a tough guy, maybe he'll protect Rahman.

This, from the Chicago Tribune, is also disturbing:

In all likelihood, the court will declare Rahman mentally unfit to stand trial and release him, Afghan sources and Western diplomats said. But this is only a temporary fix, and it does not solve what will happen to Rahman next. Many Afghans want to kill him.

"He should be hanged in a square," said Aqa Gul, 40, a baker.

"He should be stoned to death," said Sayed Saber, 32, a construction worker.

Rahman was the major topic of conversation across Kabul on Friday. In a restaurant, influential leaders met with a group of young people from Panjshir province, where Rahman is from. The young men talked about what would happen if Rahman is released.

"Anything could happen--whether a big demonstration, even the possibility of killing him," said Shojah Mostaqel, who organized the meeting. "Everyone knows what Islam says. Bush and his friends are trying to interfere in an Islamic country."

At Pol-e-Kheshti mosque, Kabul's largest, more than 10,000 people listened to cleric Maulavi Enayatullah Baligh talk about Rahman. They yelled, "God is great!" after Baligh said Rahman deserved death.

"If this Abdul Rahman does not come to Islam and does not repent, even if the government does not sentence him to death, then the people of Afghanistan will kill him," said Baligh, 50, also a lecturer in Islamic law at Kabul University.


This story may not be coming to an end -- or at least not to a good end.

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