Afghan Muslim Cleric Hate
Afghan Clerics Outraged at Desecration
Thursday October 20, 2005 8:31 PM
AP Photo SYD801
By DANIEL COONEY
Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Islamic clerics expressed outrage Thursday at television footage that purportedly shows U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters to taunt other militants and warned of a possible violent anti-American backlash.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the alleged desecration and ordered an inquiry. The operational commander of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, which launched its own criminal probe, said the alleged act, if true, was ``repugnant.''
Worried about the potential for anti-American feelings over the incident, the State Department said it instructed U.S. embassies around the globe to tell local governments that the reported abuse did not reflect American values.
Cremating bodies is banned under Islam (adherence to 7th century Muslim ignorance could not foresee fiery airplane crashes), and one Muslim leader in Afghanistan compared the video to photographs of U.S. troops abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
``Abu Ghraib ruined the reputation of the Americans in Iraq and to me this is even worse,'' said Faiz Mohammed, a top cleric in northern Kunduz province. ``This is against Islam. Afghans will be shocked by this news. It is so humiliating. There will be very, very dangerous consequences from this.''
Anger also was evident in the streets.
``If they continue to carry out such actions against us, our people will change their policy and react with the same policy against them,'' said Mehrajuddin, a resident of Kabul, who like many Afghans uses only one name.
Another man in the capital, Zahidullah, said the reported abuse was like atrocities committed by Soviet troops, who were driven out of Afghanistan in 1989 after a decade of occupation. He warned that the same could happen to American forces.
``Their future will be like the Russians,'' Zahidullah said.
In Washington, the U.S. government also condemned the alleged incident.
The allegation was ``very serious'' and ``very troubling,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. His comment came after the department said U.S. embassies had been told to inform foreigners that abuse of remains ``is not reflective of our values.''
The move suggested U.S. worries about an anti-American uproar like Afghan riots in May that erupted after Newsweek said U.S. soldiers at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility desecrated Islam's holy book, the Quran. Newsweek later retracted the story.
The alleged body burning comes as the U.S. military is struggling to bolster its image in Afghanistan amid charges by Karzai of heavy-handed tactics in fighting the Taliban.
Australia's SBS television network broadcast the video purportedly showing soldiers burning the bodies of two suspected Taliban fighters in hills outside Gonbaz village in the southern Shah Wali Kot district - an area plagued by Taliban activity and considered by the local security forces as too dangerous to venture into unless accompanied by U.S. troops.
The network said the video was taken by a freelance journalist, Stephen Dupont. Dupont, who told The Associated Press that he was embedded with the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, said the burnings happened Oct. 1.
He told SBS that soldiers in a U.S. Army psychological operations unit later broadcast taunting messages targeting the village, which was believed to be harboring Taliban fighters.
``They deliberately wanted to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them. ... That's the only way they can find them,'' Dupont said.
The video did not show those messages being broadcast, although it showed some military vehicles fitted with speakers and playing loud music.
According to a transcript released by SBS, the messages called the Taliban ``cowardly dogs.''
``You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies,'' said one message, according to the transcript.
Dupont told the AP the messages were broadcast in the local dialect but were translated into English for him by members of the Army unit. He declined to provide further information.
The U.S. military said the Army Criminal Investigation Command was looking into the matter.
``This alleged action is repugnant to our common values,'' Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya said from the U.S. base at Bagram. ``This command takes all allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behavior seriously and has directed an investigation into circumstances surrounding this allegation.''
A U.S. military spokeswoman, Sgt. Marina Evans, said investigators would check whether the purported act violated the Geneva Convention, which says the dead must be ``honorably interred, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged.''
The Afghan Defense Ministry launched its own investigation, Karzai's spokesman, Karim Rahimi, said.
``We strongly condemn any disrespect to human bodies regardless of whether they are those of enemies or friends,'' he told the AP.
US Troops Burned Bodies In Afghanistan
Because 'They Stank'; Clerics Warn of Backlash
Oct 24, 2005
By Ahmad Al-Marid, JUS Afghan Correspondent
US soldiers burned the bodies of two
Taliban fighters in Afghanistan because villagers had not claimed them a day
after they were killed and the bodies "were bloated and they stank," a US
magazine reported, citing soldiers who were present at the incident. According
to the article published on Time magazine's website, a US army platoon was
sharing a rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan with the
bodies of the two fighters.
"The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier and in the 90
degree (Fahrenheit, 32 degrees Celsius) heat, their bodies had become an
unbearable presence," Time reported, citing soldiers who were present. "We
decided to burn the bodies ... because they were bloated and they stank," Time
reported, citing a soldier. Under the Geneva Convention, the disposal of war
dead "should be honorable, and, if possible, according to the rites of the
religion the deceased belonged."
The United States has gone to great lengths to win over Afghans, sending
billions in aid and using its troops for humanitarian work. But TV footage
purportedly showing US soldiers burning the bodies of Taliban rebels threatens
to fray that goodwill. With Islamic clerics warning of a violent anti-American
backlash, the alleged desecration of dead Muslims has American commanders
scrambling to contain a public relations calamity that comes as they struggle to
bolster support for their war against a stubborn insurgency.
Cremating bodies, even those of animals, is banned in Islam. One Muslim cleric
in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said, "Bodies should only be burned in hell. The
burnings of these bodies is an offense to Muslims everywhere. ... It makes no
difference that they were Taliban," the cleric, Said Mohammed Omar, told The
Associated Press outside his mosque.
Some students called for street demonstrations. "We must protest this. If we
don't, U.S. soldiers will do the same thing again," said Zabiola, a student
leader at Kabul University, who like many Afghans uses only one name. Another
student, Jamshid Agha, speaking after Friday prayers, said that when he heard
the news, he was "so angry with America, I felt like taking a weapon and
fighting."
The last anti-American protests in Afghanistan that turned violent were in May
over a report by Newsweek, later retracted, that U.S. soldiers at the Guantanamo
Bay detention facility abused Islam's holy book, the Quran. Australia's SBS
television network this week broadcast a video purportedly showing American
soldiers burning the bodies of two suspected Taliban fighters in hills outside
southern Gonbaz village, which is in a region plagued by Taliban activity. The
footage shows about five soldiers in light-colored military fatigues, which did
not have any distinguishing marks, standing near a bonfire in which two bodies
were laid side by side.
The network said the video was taken by a freelance journalist, Stephen Dupont.
He told AP it was taken Oct. 1 while he was embedded with the Army's 173rd
Airborne Brigade. For some Afghans, the damage was already done. "During the
past quarter-century of war, I have never heard of anyone burning dead bodies,"
said a senior cleric in Kandahar, Abdul Qayum. "The Americans claim to be here
to bring peace, but what are we supposed to think about this?"
Clerics Call for Christian Convert's Death Despite Western Outrage
Associated Press
Thursday , March 23, 2006
KABUL, Afghanistan — Senior Muslim clerics said Thursday that an Afghan man who converted from Islam to Christianity must be executed and if the government caves into Western pressure and frees him they will incite people to "pull him into pieces."
The trial of Abdul Rahman has fired passions in this conservative Muslim nation and highlighted a conflict of values between Afghanistan and its Western backers.
"Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die," said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is considered a moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban before the hardline regime was ousted in 2001.
Rahman, a 41-year old former medical aid worker, faces the death penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for becoming a Christian. His trial, which began last week, has caused an international outcry. U.S. President George W. Bush has said he is "deeply troubled" by the case and expects the country to "honor the universal principle of freedom."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that she received assurances from Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a telephone call that Rahman would not be sentenced to death.
"I have the impression that he (Karzai) has a firm willingness" to abide by the human rights requirements and "I hope we will be able to resolve this," Merkel said going into pre-EU summit talks.
Diplomats have said the Afghan government was searching for a way to drop the case, and on Wednesday authorities said Rahman is suspected of being mentally ill and would undergo psychological examinations to see whether he is fit to stand trial.
But three Sunni preachers and a Shiite one interviewed by The Associated Press in four of Kabul's most popular mosques said they don't believe Rahman is insane.
"He is not crazy. He went in front of the media and confessed to being a Christian," said Hamidullah, chief cleric at Haji Yacob Mosque.
"The government is scared of the international community. But the people will kill him if he is freed."
Raoulf, who is a member of the country's main Islamic organization, the Afghan Ulama Council, agreed, saying, "The government are playing games. The people will not be fooled."
"Cut off his head!" he exclaimed, sitting in a courtyard outside Herati Mosque. "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 for him to go into exile outside Afghanistan.
But Said Mirhossain Nasri, the top cleric at Hossainia Mosque, one of the largest Shiite places of worship in Kabul, said Rahman must not be allowed to leave the country.
"If he is allowed to live in the West then others will claim to be Christian so they can too," he said. "We must set an example. ... He must be hanged."
The clerics said they were angry with the United States and other countries for pushing for Rahman's freedom.
"We are a small country and we welcome the help the outside world is giving us, but please don't interfere in this issue," Nasri said. "We are Muslims and these are our beliefs. This is much more important to us than all the aid the world has given us."
Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which is interpreted by many Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death.
Hamidullah warned that if the government frees Rahman, "There will be an uprising" like one against Soviet occupying forces in the 1980s.
"The government will lose the support of the people," he said. "What sort of democracy would it be if the government ignored the will of all the people."
Meanwhile, human rights group Amnesty International issued a statement, saying that if Rahman has been detained solely for his religious beliefs, he would be a "prisoner of conscience."
"The charges against him should be dropped and if necessary he should be protected against any abuses within the community," the London-based group said.
Rahman is believed to have lived in Germany for nine years after converting to Christianity while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He returned to Kabul in 2002.
It was not immediately clear when Rahman's trial will resume. Authorities have barred attempts by the AP to see him and he is not believed to have a lawyer.