While unrest continues in the Middle East, reports from human rights activists are flooding in about an Afghani Christian who is facing the death penalty for committing “apostasy” in converting from Islam. Charisma has reported on Said Musa in the past, but now his martyrdom for the Kingdom God appears imminent.
Here’s the back story: Musa was arrested on May 31, 2010, along with other Islam-to-Christianity converts, after footage of a baptismal service aired on national television.
In the nine months that the father of six young children has been imprisoned, he has been beaten, tortured and sexually abused on a daily basis, according to Paul Marshall, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom.
Marshall also reports that no Afghan lawyer will not defend Musa, a former Afghan solider whose leg was amputated after he stepped on a landmine. Musa has also been denied access to a foreign lawyer. It appears that Musa is being used as an example to intimidate other Christian converts. “America has given billions of dollars, and, more importantly, given precious American lives, to bring freedom and democracy to the people of Afghanistan. But this must include freedom and democracy for our Christian brothers and sisters and other indigenous minorities, as well,” says IRD Religious Liberty Director Faith J.H. McDonnell.
McDonnell notes that 2006, the international community was outraged when Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman faced the death penalty. His life was saved because of the outcry. Now, McDonnell is urging church groups to speak out for Musa. “They who speak passionately about torture, health care, and global warming surely should see that the slaughter of innocent Christians in Afghanistan is an authentic ‘justice issue,'” McDonnell says. “We cannot just pay lip service to the idea that Christians facing persecution in Afghanistan are our brothers and sisters. We have to behave as if they are. We should see this persecution as an attack on a member of our own family.”
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