Abdul Rahman converted to Christianity 16 years ago. He has been charged with rejecting Islam and faces possible execution under Sharia law.

The U.S., Canada, Italy and Germany have been somewhat muted in expressing their concerns for his fate.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

Speaking alongside Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah at a press conference in Washington, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns urged Afghanistan to respect Mr Rahman's religious rights.

However, he did not ask for his immediate release and said he respected Afghan sovereignty.

The trial judge holds the bible he says belonged to the accused

"Our government is a great supporter of freedom of religion," Mr Burns said.

"As the Afghan constitution affords freedom of religion to all Afghan citizens, we hope very much that those rights, the right of freedom of religion, will be upheld in an Afghan court."

Mr Abdullah in turn said he hoped "through our constitutional process there will be a satisfactory result".

He said the Afghan embassy in Washington had received hundreds of messages of concern about the case from US citizens.

The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says the case has the potential to embarrass the US, which has invested huge efforts and resources in trying to help Afghanistan embrace democracy and freedom.

US President George Bush only recently visited Kabul, praising the country's emergence from years of oppression under the Taleban.

That message will ring hollow if individuals still face the threat of persecution for their beliefs, our correspondent says.

'Alarming signal'

The Italian foreign ministry has said that Mr Rahman's arrest is incompatible with the defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Officials in Berlin have also raised his plight, while German Cardinal Karl Lehmann said the case sent an "alarming signal" about freedom of worship.

Canada has called on Afghanistan to meet its human rights obligations.