[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 15



PAKISTAN:

Pakistan: Man sentenced to death for blasphemy: Muhammad Ishaq
UA: 41/12 Index: ASA 33/001/2012 Pakistan Date: 10 February 2012

URGENT ACTION

MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BLASPHEMY

A Pakistani man, Muhammad Ishaq, who lives in New York State , USA, has been 
sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan.

A district court in Punjab province upheld Muhammad Ishaq's death sentence, 
which had been handed down to him in July 2009 by a court in his home town, 
Talagang, for insulting the Prophet Muhammad (section 295-C of the Pakistan 
Penal Code). He was also given a 10-year prison sentence and fined 200,000 
Rupees. His lawyer is seeking to appeal the decision to the Lahore High Court.

Muhammad Ishaq has lived in the USA for around 30 years, but is a patron of 
Talagang’s Sufi Pir Faisal Shah shrine. He had been visiting the town when he 
was accused by a man known only as Asadullah of claiming to be a messenger of 
God and getting local people to worship him. He was immediately arrested by 
local police.

A senior-superintendent of police in Talagang who investigated the matter 
refused to pursue the charges, saying he needed to maintain communal harmony in 
the town. The decision was challenged in the Chakwal District Court, but out of 
fear the verdict would provoke violence in the area, the case was moved to a 
court in neighbouring Jhelum District which eventually found Muhammad Ishaq 
guilty of blasphemy. He was refused bail by successive courts, including the 
Supreme Court, and he has been in prison since the accusations were brought 
over three years ago.

Muhammad Ishaq denies the charges of blasphemy, saying he never asked his 
followers to worship him, nor did he claim to be a messenger of God. A video 
has emerged showing local people touching his feet, a practice common in many 
parts of Pakistan and Sufi practitioners to signify respect. Muhammad Ishaq 
believes that members of a rival faction brought the charges in an attempt to 
take control of the Pir Faisal Shah shrine.

Please write immediately in English, Urdu or your own language:

Calling on President Zardari to ensure immediately that Muhammad Ishaq is not 
executed;

Calling on the authorities to release Muhammad Ishaq immediately, or else 
charge him with a recognizably criminal offence and try him in accordance with 
international human rights standards;

Urging Pakistani authorities to fulfil the pledge to review and improve “laws 
detrimental to religious harmony”, announced by Prime Minister Gilani in August 
2009, and reform or abolish the blasphemy laws;

Calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, with a 
view to eventual abolition of the death penalty.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 2 2 MARCH 2012 TO :

President

Asif Ali Zardari

Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan Fax: +92 51 920 4974 E-mail: 
publicmail at president.gov.pk Salutation: Dear President Zardari


Chief Minister, Punjab

Mian Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif Chief Minister Punjab Chief Minister’s Office 7, 
Club Road, GOR I Lahore, Pakistan Fax: +92 42 9920 5065 Salutation: Dear Chief 
Minister Sharif

Minister of Law

Rana Sanullah 3 Patiala House GOR 1

Pakistan Fax: +92 42 9920 1064 Salutation: Dear Minister Sanaullah




Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. 
Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:

Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address 
Salutation Salutation


Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.


URGENT ACTION

MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BLASPHEMY

Additional Information

Pakistan’s current blasphemy laws were first introduced during British rule in 
the 19th century and were amended in 1982 and 1986 by the military regime of 
General Zia ul Haq to make the defiling the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad 
criminal offences, punishable with life in prison and death respectively. The 
laws are vaguely formulated and arbitrarily enforced by the police and 
judiciary. Religious minorities have been disproportionately accused of 
blasphemy, but the majority of victims are mainstream Muslims, reflecting the 
danger these laws pose to all members of Pakistani society and the rule of law.

Charges brought against individuals under the blasphemy laws are often founded 
on the individuals’ minority religious beliefs or unfounded accusations 
stemming from personal enmity, frequently aiming to imprison people to gain 
advantage in business or land disputes. Police frequently fail to record and 
investigate complaints and justice is impeded by judicial bias against 
religious minorities. Many of those accused or suspected of blasphemy have been 
assaulted or tortured. Some people detained on blasphemy charges in prisons 
have been killed by fellow detainees or prison wardens. Others suspected of 
blasphemy, but not under arrest, have been unlawfully killed without police 
taking any action to protect them. In 2010 Pakistan’s Council of Islamic 
Ideology, a constitutional body mandated to advise the state on Islamic issues, 
called for the blasphemy laws to be reformed, citing these concerns. Although 
the government in 2009 pledged to review “laws detrimental to religious 
harmony” like the blasphemy laws, it fell silent after the Governor of Punjab, 
Salmaan Taseer, and Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, were assassinated, in 
January and March 2011 respectively, in part because of their criticism of the 
blasphemy laws.

Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code makes it an offence punishable by 
death or life imprisonment to ‘defile’ the Prophet Mohammed. The Federal 
Shariat Court, whose tasks include reviewing laws to ensure they conform to 
Islamic doctrine, ruled in 1990 that anyone convicted of blasphemy should face 
the death penalty, not life imprisonment. The Government appealed, but dropped 
the appeal in 1991. People found guilty under section 295-C have been sentenced 
to death ever since but no one has yet been executed.

Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out that 
everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and 
expression. International human rights law provides that any limitations placed 
on these freedoms should be only such as are prescribed by law as well as being 
necessary and proportionate for, among other things, the protection of the 
rights and freedoms of others.

(source:  Amnesty International)