Pakistan: Blasphemy accused sentenced to death

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The accused, Zulfikar, was 'caught red-handed' while writing blasphemous remarks on the walls of Afghan Park in Lahore's Islampura area in 2008.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Dawn staff / Tauqir Ghumman | July 14, 2014

LAHORE: A sessions court on Monday handed down the death sentence and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on a blasphemy accused after charges were proved against him.

Additional sessions court Judge Naveed Iqbal issued the ruling in the case.

The accused, Zulfikar, was 'caught red-handed' while writing blasphemous remarks on the walls of Afghan Park in Lahore's Islampura area in 2008.

He was booked under blasphemy charges on a complaint filed by area residents.

The area residents had also claimed that the man used derogatory language at the time of the azaan (call for prayer).

Though Pakistan has never carried out the death penalty for blasphemy, it is one of the countries to have the most people jailed over its blasphemy laws.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97 per cent of the 180 million population is Muslim and the law, with a lack of procedural safeguards, has contributed to an alarming number of mob attacks and vigilante violence over the issue.

Pakistan in the past has urged the United Nations to make blasphemy an internationally recognised offense.


http://www.dawn.com/news/1119169

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