According to a March 24 NYT story, the judge in the case of an Afghan Muslim charged with converting to Christianity isn't particularly concerned with international opinion. Abdul Rahman isn't necessarily out of the woods when it comes to facing the death penalty.

Here's an excerpt from a March 23 CTV.ca News story:

"He (Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai) certainly conveyed to me that we don't have to worry about any such eventual outcome," Harper told a news conference on Thursday.

In a statement on Wednesday, Harper said Karzai had assured him that respect for human and religious rights would be fully upheld.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also told reporters she had received assurances from Karzai in a telephone call that Rahman would not be executed.

But here's the NYT story:

... Ansarullah Maulavi Zada, the judge who heads the public security tribunal in Kabul, said, "There is no direct pressure on our court so far, but if it happens we will consider it interference."

He added that he expected to rule in the case in the next several days. ...

There was nothing in the story about Karzai assuring Dubya that Rahman will not be executed.

Some more from the NYT:

To Afghan prosecutors, the case appears equally clear cut. One described Mr. Rahman as a "microbe," said conversion is illegal under Islamic law, and requested the death penalty. ...

Karzai has to sign off on Rahman's execution, and to this point, I've not seen a public statement directly from him saying that Afghanistan will not allow Rahman to be executed over this matter.

It's interesting on how the conservative U.S. political blogosphere is on fire over this one, which means Rahman's execution could have some very negative domestic political consequences for Bush.

OTOH, not sticking up sufficiently for Islam could have some very negative domestic political consequences for Karzai.

Irresistable force, meet immovable object.