Government officials

Government officials

 

Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted an unidentified Afghan official as saying that president Hamid Karzai has personally interfered in Abdul Rahman's case to secure the convert's release. "The president is personally working to resolve it peacefully. There is a way out of it," said the official. "I believe it'll take one or two days."^[35]
Former Afghanistan Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah said during a press conference with US Under Secretary for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns, "I know that it is a very sensitive issue and we know the concerns of the American people. In fact, in our embassy we received hundreds of messages of such kind. As far as I understand the nature of the case has been that the wife of the gentleman has registered a lawsuit against her husband. And then the Government of Afghanistan has nothing to do in it. It's a legal and judicial case. But I hope that through our constitutional process there will be a satisfactory result out of that process."^[36] He also stated: "Every time we have a case it is like an alarm. These contradictions [between freedom of religion and sharia] will not go away with one or two cases."^[37]
Ansarullah Mawlawizadah announced international pressure will not affect his rulings in the case, saying: "There is no direct pressure on our court so far, but if it happens we will consider it as an interference. We have a constitution and law here. Nobody has the right to put pressure on us."^[38] In an interview to AFP, Mawlawizadah confirmed his position: "We have nothing to do with diplomatic issues. We'll do our job independently."^[35] He says that he expects to rule in the case in the next several days.^{[38]
http://www.abdulrahman.com 
http://www.facebook.com/abdulrahman}