US Christian leaders seek Obama's help to free jailed Afghan convert

Washington, Feb 24(ANI): Christian leaders in the United States have sought President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's help for the release of Said Musa, who could be put to death in Afghanistan for abandoning Islam and converting to Christianity.

The Afghan Red Cross worker, who became a Christian eight years ago, was arrested in May last year after a TV program showed him and other Christians worshiping together.

Musa was reportedly abused in prison and threatened with death if he did not renounce his faith.

"Since his arrest, Musa has experienced beatings, sexual assault and sleep deprivation. Our current administration appropriately condemned this kind of treatment of our own terror suspects," Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, wrote in a letter to Obama and Clinton. Certainly we cannot stand idly by while a fellow human being is tortured and executed merely for exercising his freedom of conscience. This flies in the face of everything we say we are fighting for in Afghanistan," he added.

Meanwhile, Denny Burk, the Dean of Boyce College at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, appealed to Obama via Twitter to "persuade the Afghan govt. not to execute our brother Said Musa".

John Piper, the pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, followed suit: "Mr. President, speak wisely and boldly, in private if necessary, for Said Musa, imprisoned in Kabul," he wrote on Twitter. (ANI)