Kabul, Afghanistan - The fate of a Afghan man who could face the death penalty for converting to Christianity, rested with prosecutors on Monday with expectation high the charges will be dropped and he will be released.
Abdur Rahman, 40, was detained this month for rejecting Islam and converting to Christianity. Death is the punishment stipulated by sharia, or Islamic law, for apostasy -- abandonment of the faith.
The case has raised a storm of protest in the West, threatening to create a rift between Afghanistan and the United States and other Western backers who have called for the man's release.
The presiding judge said on Sunday the case had flaws and had been referred back to prosecutors, raising speculation it would be dropped.
A prosecutor said on Monday the case depended on the result of a mental examination.
"Rahman will be sent for a medical examination ... a decision will be made on the basis of the examination," said the prosecutor, Zemarai, who uses only one name.
A spokesman for the Supreme Court said the mental examination had been ordered after Rahman's relatives said he suffered from mental problems. Rahman has denied he has mental problems.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has been searching for a way out of the crisis, trying to satisfy Western demands while not angering powerful conservatives at home who have demanded a trial and death sentence under Islamic law.
Analysts say they expect a ruling that will result in the case being dropped, either because he is ruled unstable or for another reason.
"The case is in the hands of the prosecutors and we're waiting word from them," said a political official who declined to be identified. He said he expected the case to be dropped.
The Supreme Court spokesman also said checks were also necessary to see if Rahman had a second nationality. He did not elaborate.
Several countries with troops in Afghanistan have raised their concerns.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has been searching for a way out of the crisis, trying to satisfy Western demands while not angering powerful conservatives at home who have demanded a trial and death sentence under Islamic law.
The legal system in Afghanistan, a deeply conservative Muslim country, is based on a mixture of civil and sharia law.
A group including clerics and a former prime minister said at the weekend the government risked rebellion if it caved in to Western pressure and freed Rahman.
Clerics lead hundreds of people in a protest in Mazar-i-Sharif to demand Rahman be tried under Islamic law. "America stop interference, Karzai enforce justice, he should be punished," one cleric told the crowd.
Several clerics in Ghazni town, southwest of Kabul, told a small gathering the government had to ensure Rahman was punished under Islamic law and must not release him because of Western pressure.
Afghanistan saw violent protests last month over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad published in European newspapers. Protests last year over a U.S. magazine report that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Koran at a U.S. military prison were also violent.