KABUL, Sep 11, 2001 -- (dpa) While international diplomatic efforts are in full swing to gain the release of foreign aid workers being held by the Taliban, the prospects of death sentences loom large.
Most media reports give the impression the death penalty for espousing their Christian beliefs in the Islamic state is a foregone conclusion.
Taliban's chief, Mulla Mohammad Omar, issued a decree in June from his headquarters in Kandahar, prescribing execution as the punishment for those caught promoting any religion other than Islam.
The decree explicitly outlines death for "Afghans who convert (from Islam), or are found guilty of proselytizing", while foreigners face imprisonment and expulsion.
However, Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil backtracked from the edict saying the death penalty could be applied to the foreigners on trial because "they were caught red-handed".
"It is unprecedented and that is why we have referred the case with all the evidence materials to the Supreme Court," Muttawakil told reporters last Thursday in Kabul.
Two days later, Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqib used an analogy to sum up how he intends to proceed with the trial and determine the punishments for the four Germans, two Americans and two Australians on trial.
"Let me give you an example. In an artillery unit it is not the gunner alone who is responsible for fire. He obviously gets orders from somebody, and there are others who arrange the ammunition for the guns on orders.
"Thus you have to see as to who carries greater responsibility," the soft-spoken Saqib told reporters minutes after armed security guards took the eight foreigners back to the detention cell after their first appearance at the court last Saturday.
Saqib indicated the fates of the foreigners are yet to be decided. "I have been telling you and others the punishment will be determined only after scrutinizing the materials seized and the investigations," the judge told reporters in his crowded chambers decorated with antique swords, which also serves as the courtroom.
Most of Saqib's colleagues - religious scholars and judges - sit in a semi-circle to the right and left of the chief justice. All have been fuming over what they call a "very serious crime committed by the Christian missionaries", a fact that also resounded in Saqib's scathing condemnation of the organization in Friday's sermon in Kabul's central Pule-Khishti mosque.
"These people have been first offering bread to the poor and then asking them to turn to a religion which was cancelled with the advent of Islam," Saqib said.
But he also assured the accused of a fair trial.
"We will convince not only you but the whole world of our justice in this case because it is very important for Afghanistan as well as the whole of the world," Saqib insisted.
The Taliban authorities believe they need to purge Afghanistan of "evil forces which are using the name of humanitarian assistance for ulterior motives". Non-governmental organizations such as the International Assistance Mission (IAM) and SERVE, were expelled from Afghanistan last week for promoting Christianity.
In addition to confiscating evidence, which the Taliban claims to be Christian materials, from the IAM offices, the authorities have also arrested as many as 35 Afghan workers from the organization, which had been running eye and health clinics in Afghanistan since the mid-1960s.
The authorities also announced a strict enforcement of the existing rules and regulations governing the work of all non-governmental organizations including the UN, and warned they will have to strictly abide by the Taliban's laws.
"It is a definite pattern which is likely to continue," said a Western diplomat on the condition of anonymity." We think the Taliban want to stay on top of the news as part of their drive for recognition until the UN General Assembly meets in October."
Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recognize the Taliban government. Its attempts to gain recognition from the UN has so far been frustrated because of the continued presence of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi fugitive indicted in the United States on charges of masterminding the bombings of U.S. diplomatic missions in Africa in 1998. The Taliban has allowed bin Laden to reside in Afghanistan while refusing to extradite him to the U.S.
The Taliban were also slapped with two sets of sanctions by the UN in 1999 and in January this year for refusing to hand over bin Laden.
A doctor in Kabul said the external pressure on the Taliban has been reciprocated to Western-based non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan.
"The conditions for non-governmental organizations have become harder in the past six months or so, and particularly for those being funded by the Church," admitted Dr. Willy Kaemmer, who has been working at Kabul's Indira Gandhi Hospital for Children for more than a year.
He also conceded the trial for the foreigners has created a lot of mistrust and suspicion among all in Afghanistan and added to the pressures other non-governmental organizations and the UN is already facing.
(C)2001. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH. All rights reserved.