From Holden:

Freeance and Peance ain’t what it used to be.

Senior Muslim clerics demanded Thursday that an Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity be executed.

[snip]

“Rejecting Islam is insulting God,” said cleric Abdul Raoulf.

“We will not allow God to be humiliated – this man must die,” said Raoulf, who is considered a moderate.

[snip]”He is not crazy,” said Hamidullah, chief cleric at Haji Yacob Mosque. “He went in front of the media and confessed to being a Christian. The government is scared of the international community. But the people will kill him if he is freed.”

That drew agreement from Raoulf, a member of the country’s main Islamic organization, the Afghan Ulama Council. He said: “The government is playing games. The people will not be fooled.

“Cut off his head! We will call on the people to pull him into pieces so there’s nothing left.”

He said the only way for Rahman to survive would be to go into exile.

But at Hossainia Mosque, one of the largest Shiite places of worship in Kabul, Said Mirhossain Nasri said Rahman must be barred from leaving the country.

“If he is allowed to live in the West, then others will claim to be Christian so they can, too,” he said. “He must be hanged.”

The clerics said they were angry with the United States and other countries for pushing for Rahman’s freedom.

[snip]

Hamidullah warned that if the government frees Rahman, “the government will lose the support of the people. What sort of democracy would it be if the government ignored the will of all the people?”