ASIA/AFGHANISTAN - Afghan lawyer: “Laws needed which respect human rights”

Kabul (Agenzia Fides) – One Christian was saved, but others risk death: Afghanistan urgently needs new laws which “fully respect human rights, freedom of conscience, speech and religion,” declared Afzal Nooristani to Fides, lawyer and Executive Director of the Legal Aid Organization of Afghanistan (LAOA). He explained his satisfaction that Sayed Musa was saved – an Afghan who converted from Islam to Christianity, who risked the death penalty for apostasy. The organisation, which ensured his legal assistance, confirms to Fides that Sayed Musa was freed last night and is safe.
According to Fides' sources in Afghanistan, pressure from the American Government and the international community in recent weeks had already affirmed that Musa Sayed's case was blocked in the Office of the Prosecutor, without following the process to trial. According to the same sources, Musa will find political asylum abroad, probably in Pakistan, where part of his family lives.
Afzal Nooristani explains that “if the process had commenced before a court, the man would have most certainly been convicted. In reality, however, the case was in the hands of the department of the Public Prosecutor, in charge of investigations, and the trial had not yet been set.” “I believe that Afghanistan needs new laws that fully respect human rights and freedom of conscience, expression and religion,” notes the lawyer. “I think we need a comprehensive reform of the legal system,” he continues, “but the Country is currently undergoing complex problems and challenges, such as terrorism, the presence of ultra-conservative forces, and the vagueness of the political class, that make this process rather difficult.”
“The hope,” he concludes, “is in the progressive conscientiousness, growth and development of Afghan civil society. We hope that the international community can encourage this process.” Sectors of Afghan civil society are sensitive to the issue of respect for human rights and protection of fundamental freedoms of the individual, and many lawyers share the LAOA's approach.
Musa Sayed, 45, father to six children, and Red Cross worker, was arrested on 31 May 2010 after the national television broadcast service in which he described his conversion from Islam to Christianity. In recent weeks, Christian activists and human rights defenders launched an international campaign, even on the Twitter social networking site, asking U.S. President Barack Obama to intervene to save Musa Sayed.
The Afghan Constitution declares Islam the “State religion” and allows the followers of other faiths to exercise their right to worship “in the manner provided by law”. The Sharia (Islamic law) in Afghanistan is the source of law, and there are laws providing for the death penalty for apostasy and blasphemy. Another Afghan, Ahmad Shah, is in the same situation Musa Sayed. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 26/2/2011)