Robert Spencer, the authority on Islam whom I have quoted before, notes that
The Abdul Rahman case in Afghanistan has given rise to a spate of articles in the Western press, assuring Westerners that Muslims do not actually kill or want to kill apostates. While these may be reassuring to non-Muslims, many of them have been downright misleading about the real status of the death penalty for apostasy in the Islamic world.
He proceeds to analyze and deconstruct the arguments of M. Cherif Bassiouni, a professor of Law at DePaul University and President of the International Human Rights Law Institute.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21943