Thank you, Italy

Evidently, as soon as convert to Christianity from Islam Abdur Rahman (he of the ironic name) was released from prison, he disappeared. Many were speculating where he went and which state (if any) would grant him asylum, for he did, wisely, as for asylum. Afghani legal authorities requested that he barred from leaving the state, which would have been a sort of death sentence for if he did not flee he would have certainly been killed. Perhaps these authorities desired its blood-thirsty Muslim clerics to do what the state was evidently afraid to do. After all, where could he have gone, considering it was his own flesh and blood that betrayed him to the authorities?

He turned up in Italy a few days later.

Rahman was in the care of Italy's Interior Ministry, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday evening. "He is already in Italy," he said. "I think he arrived overnight."

The premier declined to release more details. The Interior Ministry said Rahman was "under protection."

Italy was one of the first states to speak up in Abdul Rahman's defense. In addition to its government, the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedixt XVI, appealed to Afghani president Hamid Karzai from Rome on behalf of Abdul Rahman. For once, a European state aligned its actions with its words: being one of the first to defend Abdul Rahman and to pressure the Afghani government to act appropriately, it granted Abdul Rahman asylum and accepted him into the nation.

Thank you, Italy.

We have been quite proud of the many in the West who have so forcefully spoken in Abdul Rahman's defense. Many governments and institutions placed immense pressure on Karzai on behalf of Abdul Rahman. It surprised Us that one man's case would so enthrall and unite the world. He did not ask for this assistance, and was quite willing to die a martyr's death. But the West would not have any of it.

Italy was among the many brave states, and it matched its words with its actions evidently without hesitation or equivocation. Brava e grazie mille, Italia.