Netherlands Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has urgently requested his Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rassoul to pay close attention to the case of Said Musa.
Mr Musa is an Afghan who has converted to Christianity and may face the death penalty for doing so.
Minister Rosenthal has also alerted Mr Rassoul’s predecessor, Dr Rangin Dadfar Spantaheeft, an advisor of President Hamid Karzai.
Mr Rosenthal did not give further details of the case, which was brought to his attention by the small Dutch opposition Christian Union party, saying he not wish to "make the situation more difficult".
Mr Rosenthal is on a trip to the Middle East where, after visiting Jordan, he is moving on to Israel. He was criticised in the Dutch parliament last week over the execution of Dutch-Iranian woman Zahra Bahrami. The foreign minister was accused of not taking enough action to prevent her being put to death.
(nc/tt/tf)
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide






















