Yesterday, Afghanistan's Supreme Court, under intense pressure from Western countries, dismissed the case against Abdul Rahman and sent it back to prosecutors to look into problems with the evidence against him, according to reports in yesterday's Guardian and today's Financial Times. Judge Ansarullah Maulavezada, who had been set to try Abdul Rahman for converting from Islam to Christianity, said the case had been dropped because of questions over Rahman's mental state and whether he held dual citizenship in Germany. Meanwhile, Rahman asked for a Bible, insisting he was sane and was willing to die for his faith.
Rahman is being moved to to Pul-i-Charki, a high security facility housing hundreds of Taliban convicts, after fellow prisoners threatened to kill him at Kabul's main jail. Deputy Attorney General Mohammed Eshaq Aloko said Rahman would be sent to the Aliabad hospital in Kabul for psychiatric evaluation and might be examined by U.S. or NATO doctors. He raised the possibility that Rahman might be sent abroad for treatment, opening the possibility of his being granted political asylum abroad.
Meanwhile, India's NDTV reports that thee has been a "massive uproar" across Pakistan in protest against the court's decision to dismiss the Rahman case. Thousands protested in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
In a related development, in India, the Supreme Court has before it a petition to dissolve all Islamic and Sharia courts in the country. Outlook India today reports that Advocate Vishwa Lochan Madan filed the complaint, alleging that the courts threaten the Indian judicial system.
UPDATE: A March 28 report from the Chicago Tribune says that Rahman has been released into the custody of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the United Nations mission in Afghanistan. Also, it appears that Monday's demonstrations in Mazar-e-Sharif involved hundreds, not thousands as reported above.
