Embrace Islam or face gallows: Afghan worker told

LONDON - An Afghan Red Cross activist, who had embraced Christanity, faces death sentence handed down by a court in Afghanistan.

Physiotherapist Said Musa, 45, will be executed within three days, the Daily Mail reported Monday.

Musa, who has been held for eight months in a Kabul prison, claims he has been tortured and sexually abused by inmates and guards.

Musa worked with the Red Cross for 15 years. He lost his left leg in a landmine explosion in the 1990s and was last helping to treat other amputees in the war-ravaged country.

The activist said he was visited in prison by a judge who told him he would be hanged within days unless he converted back to Islam.

But he remains defiant and says he was willing to die for his faith.

“My body is theirs to do what they want with. Only God can decide if my spirit goes to hell,” he was quoted as saying.

The report said lawyers have refused to pursue his case in court after receiving death threats.

He was arrested in May last year as he tried to seek asylum at the German embassy following a crackdown on Christians within Afghanistan. Musa was arrested after a television channel showed western men baptising Afghans during secret ceremonies.