Taliban to execute all non-Muslim evangelists
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have imposed the death penalty on anyone who converts from Islam to another religion.
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar announced on Taliban-run Radio Shariat that any non-Muslim found trying to win converts will also be killed.
Omar has accused followers of other faiths - particularly Christians and Jews - of trying to convert Muslims and seeking to demonise the harsh brand of Islam practiced by the Taliban.
He said: "The enemies of Muslims are trying to eliminate the pure Islamic religion throughout the world."
The Taliban enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic law in Afghanistan. Women are barred from working, and the Taliban have stopped all schooling for girls beyond the age of eight.
Men are required to wear beards and pray in mosques without fail, while women must wear head-to-toe coverings. Most forms of entertainment have been outlawed, including television and music other than religious songs.
Omar has also announced a five-year jail term for book store owners found selling material critical of Islam and about other religions.
Despite the ban on evangelism, followers of other faiths have been allowed to continue practicing their religions.
A large Sikh and Hindu community worships at several temples in Kabul, the capital, and a lone Jewish rabbi still lives in the city though most Jews left when the former Soviet Union invaded in 1979.
The Taliban controls about 95% of Afghanistan. Their opposition, led by ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani, rules in the other area. Fighting between the two sides has raged in recent weeks in central Bamiyan province, where the Taliban say they have regained control of the key city of Yakaolong.
