Editor’s Note: An update to this story appears at the end of the article: Appeal for Afghan Christians, sentenced to death for their faith

On Monday 31 May, the government of Afghanistan suspended two church-based aid organisations — US-based Church World Service (CWS) [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) — over allegations of proselytisation.

According to the New York Times, “Both groups have major operations in Afghanistan, disbursing millions of dollars in aid. Church World Service employs 190 people, and Norwegian Church Aid 50 people in a variety of development programs here, the government said.”

Christian Post reports that the “U.S.-based CWS is a cooperative ministry of 36 Christian denominations and communions. It operates relief and development programs in more than 80 countries. Norwegian Church Aid [which has worked in Afghanistan since 1979] operates in some 125 countries and provides emergency relief and development aid to poor communities and people in need.”

Both groups are vociferously denying the charge, insisting they do not evangelise and have adhered to the Islamic State’s strict protocols. Of course one does not need to preach/evangelise to be guilty of fitna. Fitna is anything at all that could have the effect of tempting or seducing a Muslim to turn away from Islam — anything from vile torture to magnetic grace. In Islam, fitna is equated with persecution and must be eliminated. (For a fuller examination of fitna, see my earlier posting: “Fitna in Morocco“.)

Islam is inherently apostaphobic, and leaving Islam (apostasy) is a capital offense under Afghan law and it is illegal to proselytise. The allegations emerged on 27 and 28 May, via a privately-run Afghan television station, Noorin TV, which broadcast video footage reportedly showing Afghans being baptised and participating with Westerners in Christian prayer meetings being held in alleged “missionary safe houses” in western Kabul. While CWS and NCA were specifically named, Noorin TV unashamedly confesses it has NO evidence they were involved. According to the producer, the report merely raised “suspicions” about the two groups whose names had simply been selected out of the telephone directory on account of the fact that they contained the word “church”.

According to Reuters (31 May), Sediq Amarkhil, a spokesman for the economy ministry said on Sunday 30 May, it had formed a commission to investigate all NGOs after a local TV report accusing aid groups of promoting Christianity. “We are very, very serious about this matter,” said Amarkhil. “If proven that any NGO is operating against the norms and laws of Afghanistan and Islam and is inviting people to Christianity . . . we will not only close it down, but will hand it over to the judicial and legal organs of the government.”

In Kabul, angry protesters have demanded the expulsion of foreigners who try to convert Muslims. In parliament, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, a deputy of the lower house, called for Muslim converts to Christianity to be executed, saying: “Those Afghans that appeared in this video film should be executed in public, the house should order the attorney general and the NDS (intelligence agency) to arrest these Afghans and execute them.” Qazi Nazir Ahmad, a lawmaker from the western province of Herat, affirmed that killing an apostate is “not a crime”.

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai is reportedly taking a personal interest in the case and has ordered an investigation, but not because he is keen to defend religious liberty. According to Waheed Omar, the President’s spokesman, Karzai has instructed his interior minister and the head of country’s spy agency “to take immediate and serious action to prevent this phenomenon”.

A European diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he suspected there might be a “hidden political agenda”, behind the Noorin TV broadcast, “at a time when stirring up anti-foreign sentiment is quite fashionable in Kabul”.

This article is taken from the blog Religious Liberty Monitoring and is used with permission.

Below is a more recent article from World Wide Religious News containing updates to the story.

Appeal for Afghan Christians, sentenced to death for their faith
Santosh Digal

VijayKumar Singh, from the India Bible Publishers and the Delhi Bible Fellowship, has launched an appeal to the Christians of India and the world to pray and express their support for Afghan Muslim converts to Christianity who were convicted on conversion charges and sentenced to death on 31 May. Speaking to AsiaNews, Sing said, “We need Christians’ help all over the world to stop the Afghan government from arresting Dari-speaking Afghan Christians and condemning them to death by public execution.”

Afghans consider their country to be 100 per cent Muslim. A local TV station, Noorin TV, recently broadcast a documentary showing photos and videos of secret “Afghan Christian Converts”, which revealed names and showed the faces of alleged Afghan Christian converts.

This was enough to spark riots and demonstrations throughout Afghanistan with protesters demanding strong action to enforce the Afghan constitution, based on Sharia, arrest the culprits, and execute anyone who renege his or her religion in favour of another.

A number of prominent public figures also spoke out on the matter, calling for immediate action. One lawmaker even said that killing a Muslim who converts to Christianity was “not a crime”.
………

Reports from inside Afghanistan already tell of many arrests in recent days, as well as allegations of torture of those under arrest in an effort to extract forcibly the names of other Afghan Christian converts.

Singh also slams the “perplexing media silence” and demands a strong stance from Christians around the world.

Read More: http://wwrn.org/articles/33634/?place=india