KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity has appealed for asylum in another country, the United Nations said yesterday after hundreds of Muslims marched against a court’s decision to dismiss his case.

Abdul Rahman was released from the high-security Policharki prison on the outskirts of Kabul late last night, Afghanistan’s deputy attorney general, Mohammed Eshak Aloko, told the Associated Press.

“We issued a letter saying he was mentally unfit to stand trial, so he has been released,” he said. “I don’t know where he is now.”

The case against him was dismissed Sunday.

Earlier yesterday, hundreds of clerics, students and others chanting “Death to Christians!” marched through the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to protest the court’s decision to toss out the case.

Several Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Mr. Rahman, saying that he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.

“Mr. Rahman has asked for asylum outside Afghanistan,” a U.N. spokesman, Adrian Edwards, said. “We expect this will be provided by one of the countries interested in a peaceful solution to this case.”

Mr. Rahman, 41, was arrested last month after police discovered him with a Bible. He was put on trial last week for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan and had faced the death penalty under Afghanistan’s Islamic laws.

But the case set off an outcry in America and other nations that helped oust the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001 and provide aid and military support for President Karzai. President Bush and others insisted Afghanistan protect personal beliefs.

Mr. Karzai had to balance those concerns with the risk of religious sensibilities in Afghanistan.

Mr. McCormack said he did not believe American officials have been in touch with Mr. Rahman regarding his travel plans, which he said were being handling privately.

“This has been a sensitive matter for the Afghan people,” Mr. McCormack said. “We understand that. So we think in the coming days, in the coming weeks, as this case is resolved, that there be calm and that any differences the Afghan people, some Afghan people may have with regard to the resolution of the case be handled without resort to violence.”

Yesterday’s protest of the court’s decision ended peacefully about two hours after it started in Mazar-i-Sharif, police commander Nasruddin Hamdrad said.

The protesters chanted “Death to Bush!” and “Death to Christians!” he said. Police in riot gear stood guard but did not intervene.

“Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it,” said senior Cleric Faiez Mohammed, from the nearby northern city of Kunduz. “The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion.”

He warned of the possibility of riots upon Mr. Rahman’s release.

Mr. Rahman was moved to Kabul’s notorious high-security Policharki prison Friday, a facility that houses about 2,000 inmates, including about 350 Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.