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 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - An Afghan man who had faced the death penalty for abandoning Islam for Christianity was freed from prison and went into hiding Tuesday in Kabul after Muslim clerics threatened his life. Italy said it may grant him asylum.
Abdul Rahman, 41, was released from the high-security Policharki prison on the outskirts of the capital late Monday after a court dropped charges of apostasy against him for lack of evidence and suspected mental illness. President Hamid Karzai had been under heavy international pressure to drop the case.
Muslim clerics condemned Rahman's release, saying it was a "betrayal of Islam." They threatened to incite violent protests.
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