KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An Afghan man who had faced the death penalty for abandoning Islam for Christianity was freed from prison and went into hiding Tuesday in Kabul after Muslim clerics threatened his life. Italy said it may grant him asylum.

Abdul Rahman, 41, was released from the high-security Policharki prison on the outskirts of the capital late Monday after a court dropped charges of apostasy against him for lack of evidence and suspected mental illness. President Hamid Karzai had been under heavy international pressure to drop the case.

Justice Minister Mohammed Sarwar Danish said Rahman was staying at a "safe location" in Kabul. He has appealed to leave Afghanistan and the United Nations said it has been working to find a country willing to take him.

The Italian government said Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini will use a Cabinet meeting Wednesday to press for Rahman to be granted asylum there. Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu endorsed Fini's proposal.

Italy has close ties with Afghanistan, whose former king, Mohammed Zaher Shah, was allowed to live with his family in exile in Rome for 30 years. The former royals returned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

An Italian diplomat in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said no one from the Italian mission had been in contact with Rahman, but they had been assured his health was all right.

"I think this is a sensible signal to the international community but also for the situation in Afghanistan," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Rahman was put on trial last week for converting 16 years ago while he was a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He faced the death penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws.

Rahman's ordeal began as a custody dispute over his two daughters, now 13 and 14. The girls had lived with their grandparents their whole lives but Rahman sought custody when he returned to Afghanistan in 2002 after living in Germany for nine years. A custody battle ensued and the matter was taken to police.

The case caused an outcry in the United States and other nations that helped oust the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001 and provide aid and military support for Karzai. President Bush and others had insisted Afghanistan protect personal beliefs. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Karzai last week and appealed for a "favorable resolution" of the case.

But the outrage put Karzai in a difficult position because he also risked offending religious sensibilities in Afghanistan, where senior Muslim clerics have been united in calling for Rahman to be executed.

"This is a betrayal of Islam and the entire Afghan nation by our government," said Hamiddullah, a senior cleric in Kabul. "This will have very dangerous consequences for the government. Muslim leaders will react very strongly."

On Monday, 700 clerics, students and others in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif protested Rahman's acquittal a day earlier. The demonstration ended peacefully and there have been no rallies since.

This is cache, read story here