Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian convert who was supposed to stand trial for apostasy — the penalty for which is death, according to Islamic Sharia law — has been freed on the basis that he is mentally unfit to stand trial. Rahman, a Christian for 16 years, converted in Pakistan while he was working as an aide worker and lived in Germany prior to returning to Afghanistan in 2002.

While he was deemed mentally unsound for trial, the Afghan authorities who arrested him two weeks ago would have struggled to put his case to trial under the glaring light of international scrutiny. Rahman may be mentally unsound, but the decision to declare him unfit for trial was probably the only way that the Afghan authorities could placate the international community while still maintaining its legitimacy.

A slew of nations expressed their revulsion and horror at the prospect of Rahman’s pending execution, with a glittering list of dignitaries pleading for his release, including Australian Prime Minister John Howard, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Pope Benedict XVI, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.

While Rahman has escaped standing trial, it is likely that vigilante justice will now resolve the issue unless he successfully and immediately seeks asylum abroad. He was, after all, turned in to the authorities by his family, following a dispute. If the law refuses to execute Rahman, then the clerics will ensure that he gets his just dessert. Cleric Abdul Raoulf told his followers at  the Herati Mosque: “God’s way is the right way, and this man whose name is Abdul Rahman is an apostate.” According to Raoulf’s sermon, Rahman had “committed the greatest sin” in his conversion and ought to be executed.

The courts have effectively set a precedent, since this was possibly the first case of its kind in Afghanistan. While the legal decision that he is unfit to stand trial is interesting, what will be more interesting will be the reaction of the millions of ordinary Afghans. While Rahman has survived his first hurdle, the second — of religious conviction and vigilante justice — will certainly be harder to overcome.

Mimi Hanaoka