Afghan officials confirmed Tuesday morning that Abdul Rahman, the Christian convert facing the death penalty for refusing to renounce his religion, had been released from the high-security Policharki prison in Kabul. Rahman's release followed marathon talks between representatives of the United Nations and Afghan officials, who sought a joint solution to Rahman's case, which has been unanimously criticized by Western nations that helped topple the Taliban and restore democracy in Afghanistan.  

"I can confirm he was released," Afghan Justice Minister Sarwar Danish confirmed on Tuesday. "I do not know if he is with his family or where, but he has been acquitted." A senior Afghan official told Reuters that Rahman had been moved to a medical facility but was still in the custody of judicial authorities. The authorities did not want to give any more details of Rahman's whereabouts for fear of provoking further violent protests by fundamentalists.

After the Afghan Supreme Court sent the case back the prosecutor's office on Sunday due to lack of evidence, it was widely expected that Rahman's release would be imminent. Rahman's family had also asked the court to dismiss the case against him, saying he suffered from mental illness. The judge in the case, Ansarullah Mawlavi Zada, said that Rahman had appeared "disturbed" and that medical documents from Pakistan showed a history of mental illness. The court also said it was unclear if Rahman was an Afghan citizen as there were rumors that he had become a Belgian citizen at some stage. Afghan Deputy Attorney General Eshak Aloko told the Associated Press that prosecutors had issued a letter calling for Rahman's release because he was "mentally unfit" to stand trail.

Early on Monday around 500 people demonstrated in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif against the Supreme Court's decision not to go ahead with the case, shouting "Death to Christians!" "Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it," said senior cleric Faiez Mohammed, "The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion." Similar protests are now expected in Kabul and some imams called for Afghans to kill Rahman in an act of vigilante justice if he were to be freed. Police security forces are being deployed in central locations in anticipation of further protests.

The announcement of Rahman's release came after a UN statement on Monday that Rahman had formally applied for asylum in a Western country. The UN and diplomats were reported to be in talks to find a new country for the Christian convert. "We expect this will be provided by one of the countries interested in a peaceful solution to this case," UN spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters. On Tuesday, following Rahman's release, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said he will ask his government to grant the Afghan asylum in Italy. Fini, who is also deputy prime minister, was among the first to speak out about the case. Last week he summoned Kabul's ambassador to Rome to discuss the case and said afterwards that the Italian government, while respecting Afghanistan's constitution, "had the duty to express its indignation."

If convicted, Rahman would have faced the death penalty for apostasy, based on the country's Sharia law. He converted to Christianity 16 years ago while working with Afghan refugees in Pakistan and is reported to have lived in Germany for a number of years. The affair was apparently triggered by a family dispute. Rahman's father reported his son to the authorities after he returned to Kabul from overseas and demanded custody of his two daughters, who had been living with their grandfather. The father accused Rahman of attempting to forcibly convert the family, and Rahman was arrested after being discovered with a translated bible.

The case set off an outcry in the United States and other countries that had helped oust the Taliban regime five years ago and are still spending hundreds of millions of Euro in order to help establish democracy  in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai had come under increasing pressure from the international community to protect personal and religious beliefs and to  prevent the death sentence  from being applied in the case. However, at the same time, he has also faced criticism at home for allowing foreigners to meddle in domestic and religious affairs. Now many leading Muslim clerics are criticizing the president for having caved into pressure from the West.