According to AP, an Afghan court today dismissed the case against Abdul Rahman. AP reports that Rahman will be freed soon but may have to leave the country, presumably for his own safety.

Needless to say, Michelle Malkin is all over it.

I’m thrilled to hear that the Afghan government is dropping the charges. But I remain deeply disturbed that Rahman will have to uproot himself and flee to a foreign nation in order to save himself. This reality still reflects very poorly on Islam.

Jim: It’s hard to say what a good and simultaneously realistic outcome to this would have been. You had a prosecutor willing to push for the death penalty, and widespread public support for the death penalty, and plenty of opportunistic hardliners who were/are sure to use the case to stir up hate against Rahman, Christians, outsiders, the U.S. forces remaining in Afghanistan, Karzai, etc.

What’s also depressing is that there have been really no reports of any Afghanis arguing in favor of religious freedom. This case is likely to get dismissed on technicalities, and Rahman is unlikely to be safe once he’s released.

Here’s a somewhat crazy thought: I wonder if the U.S. could press the Afghan government on its signing of the UN charter, international treaties, international conventions that Afghanistan has signed, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I expect the reaction from the Afghanis would be something in the vein of, “None of the laws of man supercede the laws of Allah.” The U.S. ought to then demand that Afghanistan (as well as Saudi Arabia, and any other country that does not permit religious freedom) withdraw from the treaty if they do not follow it or enforce it. (Why should those countries get the p.r. benefit of being party to those treaties if the treaty rules are ignored within those countries?)

Finally, if Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, etc. refuse to withdraw from the treaties, then the U.S. should state the obvious - that the documents are meaningless, not worth the paper they’re written on, and withdraw from them in protest.

Cam says: Honestly, I’ve now reached the “*** ‘em” stage. Maybe I expended all of my caring and compassion last week, but I’m not really in much of a mood for discussion, sharp rebukes, et. al.