THE ITALIAN AFGHAN

Abdul "Just Call Me Joel" Rahman has landed in Italy:

"Here it is, look, my death sentence". Abdul Rahman, the Afghan who converted to Christendom for which he was imprisoned and risked the death penalty and who since yesterday has been in Italy in political asylum, showed with trembling hands the court order written in Dari that charged him with apostasy, ordered his detention in a Kabul prison and ordered that he be subject to the death penalty - all according to Islamic law....

But be warned anyone who calls him Abdul. I've converted, he says, and my Christian name is Joel. He tells of having converted eight years ago after having read the bible, a bible that had been given to him as a present by a Belgian friend: in it he found only words of love for everyone. He then thanks Pope Benedict XVI, the Italian government and all Italians. In my country, he says, they kill you if you're not Muslim. Whoever changes religion suffers the death penalty. He then tells of having a brother in Germany and that his family have rejected him. He says that he is afraid for his children who are now in Kabul with their mother. I'm a father he says and for this reason I'm anxious about my children.

Okay, he fled the country, but left his wife and children? Are they still minors? Hmmm. That doesn't sound like a good idea.

UPDATE: Just heard from theosebes reader Mark that the attempt to get custody of the children is what 'outed' Rahman as a Christian in the first place. His wife has not converted. Thanks for the clarification, Mark. I had missed that.