<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#009999">Latest news is thay are going to release him. Problem is they don't know when or where and there are protest about his release and people wanting his head. Head clerics are saying that if he is released they are going to off him anyway. Poor guy his dead if the state releases him or not. I kind of knew that this would be the case. He is going to die by an angry mob stoning him.</font>

[ 03-27-2006, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

Just to play Devil's Advocate a moment - what makes this any different to the opinions expressed over the drug arrest of that Australian a few months back.

People there were quick to say that if the laws and risks were known then the punishment is just.

It's not as if either the law or the attitudes of Muslim countries to this were a secret; indeed it sounds like he only recently moved back from Germany.

Is this not an Afghan matter then?

[ 03-27-2006, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

For me there is a significant difference in their choices, one chose freedom of conscience, the other chose to be a heroin mule. Was it a smart choice to return to Afganistan, obviously not, but do we know why he moved back? It was not a smart decision to smuggle drugs though Singapore either, and yet we know he was smuggling because he needed to money for his brother or some such.

Is the punishment just? Well, yes, he knew the law, and he should have known that it's common for family members to assauge their honor themselves in similar circumstances, at least he was taken before a court instead of discovered by buzzards in a ditch. Was the death sentence for the lad in Singapore just, yes as well.

Is the punishment fair by our standards, no, one of the most basic freedoms and beliefs we cling to is freedom to believe or not believe whatever we want. Such a law flies not only against that most basic and precious tenet of our beliefs, but also against the image my president has been trying to portray of Afganistan, it's not ok for them to be acting like Saudi Arabia or Iran when they're supposed to be a light unto the muslim nations of the earth showing that tolerance can exist together with an islamic democratic government. If anything it shows that their views are not compatible with western tolerance, multiculturalism and basic freedom of conscience.

(freedom to avoid or soften the legal penalties for smuggling heroin is not a universally recognized right)

[ 03-27-2006, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

Thanks Morgie, I was lacking a little perspective but your first sentence cleared it right up. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I agree with the rest of your post too - a good summary I think.

lol, and of course I butchered the spelling in that post as well...

<font color=skyblue>He was freed by the judge and disappeared already! He called for Asylum, and it is thought that since he's lived in European countries in the past, that he's been picked up by somebody and rescued from his blood-thirsty homeland. </font>

Good point, although i was also strongly opposed to the Aussies' execution. It's an Afghan matter alright, but Afghans are not upholding the law in their own country, because their retarded culture doesn't allow them to, and there's too many so called warlords and village elders and whatnot running around who claim to be the holiest thing next to god. If it wasn't for coalition forces, Afghanistan would still be under the Taliban's thumb, but i don't think they're that much better off with any regime, they're all the same. If it wasn't for the search for Bin Laden, there wouldn't even be a coalition in Afghanistan, because nobody really gives a crap about them, and i can fully understand why.

And regardless of where he goes he'll be in hiding for the rest of his life.

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com.../ltr060327.gif

[ 03-28-2006, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

Just read that he's safely in Italy and under protection. Huh... wonder why he would need protection from "the religion of peace" ;)