BERLIN, March 22 (UPI) -- The Afghan government has fired back at Germany for protesting against a possible death sentence of an Afghan convert to Christianity.
Afghani Economy Minister Amin Farhang told the German daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung: "The heated and emotional reactions from German politicians is unfair and has angered Afghans. After all, we are not interfering with Germany's internal matters or entering an ongoing judicial case."
The man, Abdul Rahman, converted to Christianity nine years ago while living in Germany, according to the German media. He may face the death penalty for giving up his Muslim faith.
Several German politicians and Germany's top Catholic cardinal have urged Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to pressure Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the man's fate.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper he followed the case with "great concern."
Rainer Bruederle, a top Free Democrat lawmaker, said: "If Karzai doesn't react, then Germany may have to rethink its support in the country."
Germany has some 2,700 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, and Karzai desperately needs each one to fight al-Qaida and Taliban remnants in the country.
Washington, which has more than 20,000 soldiers in the country and considers Karzai one of its key allies in the war on terror, has also urged Kabul to grant the man a fair trial.
"We hope that the Afghan constitution is going to be upheld and in our view, if it's upheld, then of course he'll be found to be innocent," Nicholas Burns, the State Department's undersecretary for political affairs, said Tuesday in Washington, flanked by Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The foreign minister said he knew about the West's concerns through "hundreds" of messages the Afghan embassy had obtained. He added: "I hope that through our constitutional process, there will be a satisfactory result."
