Abdul Rahman's Trial is Not an Isolated Event!

Just as we sent out our weekly Persecution & Prayer Alert this afternoon, I received a report from Compass Direct, demonstrating how the trial of Abdul Rahman is not an isolated event. Indeed, it is apparent that Afghan Christians (a tiny minority in this Muslim nation) are experiencing perhaps the most organized persecution since the fall of the Taliban.

According to the Compass Direct report, during the past few days, two other Afghan Christians have been arrested elsewhere in the country (their location is being withheld because of the sensitive situation). The report goes on to state: "This past weekend, one young Afghan convert to Christianity was beaten severely outside his home by a group of six men, who finally knocked him unconscious with a hard blow to his temple. He woke up in the hospital two hours later but was discharged before morning."

In the past month, several other Afghan Christians have reported to have been subjected to telephone threats and police raids on their homes and places of work.

It is inconceivable that Canadian troops should be serving to support a regime that violates the religious rights of citizens in this fashion. Afghanistan is a signatory to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines freedom of religion. To suggest that Canada would intervene if Abdul Rahman is sentenced to death, as Foreign Affairs officials did yesterday, is unacceptable. This is not a death penalty issue, suggesting that Mr. Rahman has committed a crime and that the main concern is the degree of his punishment. This is a human rights issue; the very trial is a travesty!

I urge you to email Prime Minister Stephen Harper at pm@pm.gc.ca and urge him to personally contact the Afghan president, indicating that this persecution of religious minorities is unacceptable and that Canada must reconsider its continued support of the Afghan government should it continue. I support our troops and I have supported Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. I do not, however, support our young men and women laying down their lives to prop up a regime that supports the killing of my brothers and sisters in Christ!