Kabul, Afghanistan - Afghanistan said that a man facing the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity might be mentally unfit to stand trial, as international pressure over the case mounted.
The United States and its NATO allies Germany and Italy, all of whom have troops in Afghanistan, have expressed concern at the trial of Abdul Rahman, believed to be the first of its kind under strict Sharia Islamic law.
The case is being seen as a test of democracy and freedom for key US ally Afghanistan, where religion retains a tight grip on society four years after the toppling of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime.
"As far as I've noticed and been told, he might have a mental problem," Supreme Court spokesman Wakil Omar told AFP. "If he is proved mentally ill, then he wouldn't be tried."
The spokesman said that Rahman, 41, who converted to Christianity 16 years ago, still has to have his mental capability checked. He did not say when the tests would be carried out.
Observers said the court's announcement may be a sign that Afghanistan is seeking a way out of an increasingly embarrassing issue for US-backed President Hamid Karzai.
The government sidestepped responsibility in its first comments on the case, with a spokesman for Karzai insisting that the matter could only be decided by the courts.
"This case was brought by his family to justice and is handled by the judiciary, which is independent," spokesman Khaleeq Ahmad said. "But the government of Afghanistan is still committed to the respect of human rights."
The Supreme Court is regarded as a bastion of conservatism in Afghanistan.
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said on Tuesday that the case concerned broader freedoms, which he said were enshrined in Afghanistan's fledgling statutes.
"We believe in universal freedoms and freedom of religion is one of them. But I should also note more particularly, as regards this case, that the Afghan constitution as we understand it also provides for freedom of religion."
Burns however suggested that Washington would not try to impose its will in the controversial case. "We hope that the Afghan constitution is going to be upheld and in our view if it is upheld, he will be found to be innocent."
Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told a joint press conference with Burns in Washington that Kabul's embassy in the US capital had received "hundreds of messages" on the case.
German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul told Bild newspaper Tuesday that religious freedom was "everybody's right" and urged Karzai to step in.
Rahman reportedly lived in Germany for nine years before returning to his war-scarred homeland.
Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini summoned the Afghan ambassador to "shed light" on the situation. He ordered the Italian ambassador in Kabul to approach Afghan authorities over the issue.
Afghan Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada told AFP Rahman was arrested just over two weeks ago when his parents informed the police about his conversion after he came back from Germany.
He apparently converted while working for an unidentified Christian aid organisation in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The judge said that at the first session of his trial Rahman confessed to converting to Christianity and said he "had no regrets". The second session, when Rahman will have to present his defence, will be held within two months.
"If he doesn't revert back to Islam, he's going to receive the death penalty, according to the law," Mawlavizada said. Only one person has been executed in Afghanistan since 2001, for a criminal offence.
"If he reverts, the court has two solutions: either to forgive him, or to give him minor punishments."
An investigator quoted Rahman's 75-year-old father as telling police: "If he has to die for the cause of Islam, then he should die. He has brought me shame."
Afghanistan became a byword for medieval punishments under the Taliban regime, with women being stoned to death for adultery and thieves having their hands chopped off.