An Afghan Red Cross worker who was jailed and faced a possible death sentence for converting to Christianity has fled the country after being freed, friends and Christian charities said Saturday. Friends of Musa Sayed, a 45-year-old father of six who converted to Christianity six years ago, told AFP he was released in late February after nine months in jail.
Afghanistan's constitution forbids conversion from Islam to another religion, a crime punishable by death, although the penalty has not been enforced in recent history. "Musa Sayed was released at the end of February. He has gone abroad, to Europe," said friends of Sayed, who worked for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).
The friends, who did not wish to be named, said they had been unwilling to speak earlier for fear Sayed's family would be targeted, but added that they had recently left Afghanistan to join him. Sayed was arrested in May 2010 on apostasy charges along with a second Afghan man, 50-year-old Ahmad Shah, whose fate is not known. His case and others like it have prompted protests from Christian groups world-wide. The last person thought to have been tried in Afghanistan for converting, Abdul Rahman, who was arrested in 2006, was eventually released and granted refugee status in Italy after protests around the globe.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.