KABUL, March 25: Afghan authorities met on Saturday to discuss the fate of an Afghan man who faces a possible death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity, while a senior official said he could be freed shortly.

Pressure has been mounting on the Afghan government to release the convert, Abdul Rahman.

“They’re all meeting at the moment about it,” an official at President Hamid Karzai’s palace said when asked if the government had made a decision on the matter. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to the media.

Hours earlier, another official told The Associated Press that Rahman “could be released soon,” without elaborating. He also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the case.

A US TV network, MSNBC, cited an Afghan diplomatic official it did not identify as saying that Rahman, 41, could be released on Monday.

But the chief judge trying Rahman’s trial, Ansarullah Mawlavi Zada, said the case would continue.

“No pressure has been put on me,” he told The AP. “We will continue with the trial as is my responsibility under the constitution.”

He had earlier asserted the court’s independence, saying, “Nobody has the right to put pressure on us.”—AP