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Afghan Islamic legal expert defends death penalty for apostasy
KABUL - An Afghan expert on Islamic law on Wednesday defended the death penalty for Muslims who convert to other religions, as debate continued over the case of a Christian convert who fled to Italy. Sher Ali Zarifi, head of religious jurisprudence in the country’s Science Academy of leading intellectuals, did not refer to Abdul Rahman by name but told a meeting of scholars that punishment for apostasy under Islam was death unless the convert recanted.

Rahman was last month secretly flown to Italy after being released from jail amid pressure from Western countries. They said his apostasy trial violated the UN Declaration on Human Rights to which Afghanistan is a signatory. Zarifi, whose organisation is government-funded, said the UN declaration did not apply in this case since conversion away from Islam violated a system and not merely the rights of an individual. “Converting is not a matter of one person’s rights but it is against an administrative structure. Afghanistan’s administration is based on Islamic law,” he said.
And there's no room for the rights of an individual in Islamic law.
Citing Islamic teachings, Zarifi said male converts should also face other punishments, including the seizure of their wealth and nullification of their marriage.
Because death just isn't good enough.

Posted by: Steve White 2006-04-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=147563