THE Afghan apostate threatened with execution finally found sanctuary yesterday when the Italian Government granted him fast-track asylum on the ground of “religious persecution”.

Abdul Rahman who had been secretly spirited from Kabul to an undisclosed “secure location” near Rome on Tuesday night, spoke yesterday of his gratitude to Italy and Pope Benedict.

In an interview aired by two Italian television channels, Mr Rahman said he would certainly have been killed if he had stayed in Kabul: “If you are not a Muslim in an Islamic country like mine they kill you, there are no doubts.”

He said he was worried about his family, even though they had denounced him as an “apostate”. “On the streets you still have Taleban, and they kill those who are not Muslims,” Mr Rahman said. “I’m a father. My children are still there.”

In the interview, recorded at a police station, Mr Rahman was shown only from behind. Speaking in English, he said he had converted “because I read the Bible and I became convinced of the goodness of this religion.” He added: “I thank the Pope, the Italian Government and all those who have been involved in my case. I am happy to be here.”

Although the Christian convert has escaped the threat to his life, his extraordinary transformation from unemployed nurse a month ago to international symbol of religious freedom has left in its wake renewed doubts about the invasion of Afghanistan, serious embarrassment for President Bush and mounting anger against the Afghan Government.

Italian officials are preparing to give Mr Rahman a new identity and said he would be given economic help, as well as an interpreter and “counselling”. He will eventually be able to decide whether to stay in Italy or move to Germany, where he lived for nine years after converting to Christianity, and where his brother still lives.

Mr Rahman, 41, returned to Afghanistan in 2003 after failing to gain asylum in Europe, but immediately entered a custody battle with his family over his two daughters.

His family denounced him to the authorities and he was charged with apostasy when the police discovered that he owned a Bible. However, Afghan judges dropped the charges against him on Sunday after Western leaders and the Pope pleaded for his release. Relatives said that he was insane, the only allowable defence under Sharia, which is enshrined in the Afghan Constitution.

His release from Pul-e-Charki prison on Monday provoked protests, with demonstrators chanting “Death to Christians” and several Muslim clerics inciting Afghans to kill Mr Rahman. The next day he was flown on a UN cargo plane to the United Arab Emirates, where he was transferred to an Italian military Falcon jet. “There was very high risk of an attempt on his life to stop him leaving Afghanistan, ” one official told the Italian media.

In Afghanistan his secretive escape fuelled anger against the Government of President Karzai, who held a series of meetings to help to broker the release after his Western backers, including the US, Britain and Italy, demanded action.

Muhammad Hanif, a purported spokesman for the hardline Taleban, denounced the President as a puppet and called for a jihad against him. He said in a statement: “We condemn this crime of the puppet administration. We ask our Muslim brothers to take their position against this offence by the enemies of Islam and to act, based on their responsibility to their religion and God, and to start jihad against Karzai’s administration.”

The Afghan parliament overwhelmingly backed a resolution banning Mr Rahman from leaving the country, but he had left by the time it was passed. Parliament then said that it would hold an inquiry into Western interference.

The affair has thrown the US Administration on the defensive after it was deluged with criticism questioning the point of removing the Taleban Government if Aghans still faced death because of their religious beliefs. Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, was forced to admit: “If I were grading, I would say we probably deserve a D or a D-plus as a country as to how well we’re doing in the battle of ideas.”

Mr Rahman believes that the war has been effectively lost. Before he was whisked away, he said: “If I flee it would mean my country hasn’t changed. Without human rights, without respect for other religions, the Taleban have won.”

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