Human Rights on Trial

Human Rights on Trial

March 23, 2006

In a case that is causing alarm around the globe, an Afghan named Abdul Rahman “faces a possible death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago.” Rahman had returned to his native country after the fall of the Taliban in 2002. The Afghan government is under “mounting international pressure” to respect the basic human right of religious freedom, and people on both the right and left in the United States have spoken out. Bush often talks about the progress that has been made in Afghanistan, but this case clearly “highlights the limits on the freedom the U.S. has brought to Afghanistan.” The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the administration to “act vigorously on [Rahman’s] behalf,” but it remains to be seen if the administration will strongly address the growing human rights problems in Afghanistan.

• The Bush administration has not responded strongly to anti-religion rhetoric out of Afghanistan. Surprisingly, the Bush administration’s response to the trial has been “rather muted.” It’s a surprise because the administration stressed the importance of religious freedom when liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban. The fact that the nation seems to be slipping back to its old patterns should be evoking loud outrage from the administration. Instead, the administration earlier in the week “issued a subdued appeal to Kabul to let Rahman practice his faith in safety.”
  
  
• The State Department has overlooked Afghanistan when it comes to religious freedom. Under guidelines mandated by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the State Department must name human rights offenders in their “International Religious Freedom Report.” Afghanistan, however, has not been designated recently, despite several instances of religious persecution. While it is true human rights have improved since the Taliban’s fall, the Rahman case demonstrates the need to apply more pressure on this issue.
  
  
• The U.S. needs to address the contradictions that exist within the Afghan constitution. The Rahman trial exposed the Afghan constitution as “an ambiguous document that endorses international human rights conventions but also says that no law shall contravene the principles of Islam.” Bush was warned by human rights groups that the Afghan constitution did not protect religious freedom. However, Bush praised the document as a “constitution which talks about freedom of religion.”