Abdul Rahman

Makes the front page of CNN.com. Mr. Rahman has become the west's cartoons. The straw that will break the camel's back so to speak. I'm still surprised that it's not front page news on the major papers and really surprised no report yesterday followed up the president's assessment of freedom in Afghanistan with a question about Mr. Rahman.

UPDATE: Aljazeera has the story too. It sounds like they've found a possible way out. Thank goodness.

An Afghan man facing a possible death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, a state prosecutor has said.

and

A Western diplomat in Kabul and a human rights advocate - both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity - said the government was desperately searching for a way to drop the case because of the reaction it had caused.

Earlier, Gianfranco Fini, the Italian foreign minister, whose country is one of four Nato members with troops in Afghanistan, told Italian television late on Tuesday he had indications the Islamic punishment for apostasy would not be imposed on Abdul Rahman.


"From what I've been told, and I have no reason to doubt it, the death sentence will not be carried out," said Fini, whose ministry had summoned the Afghan ambassador in Rome on Tuesday to discuss the case. He gave no other details.

The ruling caused a series of protests in Western states more sensitive to the role of religion in international affairs after the Prophet Muhammad caricatures in a Danish newspaper triggered violent protests and demands for an apology in the Muslim world.

May I add, I haven't read Aljazeera in a long while but this story may bring me back. This sounds like actual reporting to me! Good job guys.