BBC News
28 March 2014
Last updated at 03:28 ET
Christian families had already fled when the rioters struck
Sawan Masih was convicted of using derogatory remarks against the Prophet Mohammed in a row with a Muslim friend.
Hundreds of Muslims attacked the city's Christian Joseph colony, torching homes, when the allegations surfaced.
Allegations of blasphemy against Islam are taken very seriously in Pakistan, where 97% of the population are Muslim.
Several recent cases have prompted international concern about the application
of blasphemy laws.
A de facto moratorium on the death penalty means that he is unlikely to face the gallows any time soon.
Since the 1990s, scores of Christians have been convicted for desecrating the Koran or blaspheming against the Prophet Mohammed.
While most of them have been sentenced to death by the lower courts, many sentences have been overturned due to lack of evidence. Sawan Masih now has 30 days to appeal
Critics argue that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are frequently misused to settle personal scores and that members of minority groups are also unfairly targeted.
Muslims constitute a majority of those prosecuted, followed by the minority Ahmadi community.
In 2012 the arrest of a young Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, on blasphemy charges provoked international outrage. After being detained in a high security prison for several weeks she was eventually released and her family subsequently fled to Canada.
More recently the conviction for blasphemy of Muhammad Asghar, an elderly British man with a history of mental illness, prompted global concern.
And Obama, the supposed Christian, gives aid money and weaponry to Pakistan and doesn't protect Christians there from obvious fascist Islamic religious repression. Obama's a big skinny whimp of a Prez when push comes to shove in really protecting human rights of people around the world under threat of religiously inspired fascist terrorism and repression. We need an American leader in our highest office and not these front people for hidden agenda special interest groups like the Zionists, the Big Oil and Bigger Heroine, human traffic trade networks, and weaponry mfgs, making billions of dollars off of promoting and maintaining human suffering when leadership could begin ending it tomorrow.
Christian families had already fled when the rioters struck
A
Pakistani Christian man has been sentenced to death for blasphemy, in a
case which sparked fierce rioting in the eastern city of Lahore last
March.
Hundreds of Muslims attacked the city's Christian Joseph colony, torching homes, when the allegations surfaced.
Allegations of blasphemy against Islam are taken very seriously in Pakistan, where 97% of the population are Muslim.
Several recent cases have prompted international concern about the application
of blasphemy laws.
Ads not by this site
Sawan Masih's lawyer said a judge
announced the verdict during a hearing at the jail where the trial has
been held, amid fears for his client's safety if he attended courThe 26-year-old Masih, who is a father of three, has consistently maintained his innocence during the year-long trial. He argues the real reason for the blasphemy allegation was a property dispute between him and his friend.His father, Chapman Masih, said: "My son is innocent... we
are not being treated fairly", the BBC's Shumaila Jaffrey in Lahore
reports. The rioting that followed the incident lasted days and saw
about 3,000 Muslims attack the Christian neighbourhood, starting fires.
Two churches and dozens of bibles were also desecrated in the attackA de facto moratorium on the death penalty means that he is unlikely to face the gallows any time soon.
Since the 1990s, scores of Christians have been convicted for desecrating the Koran or blaspheming against the Prophet Mohammed.
While most of them have been sentenced to death by the lower courts, many sentences have been overturned due to lack of evidence. Sawan Masih now has 30 days to appeal
Critics argue that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are frequently misused to settle personal scores and that members of minority groups are also unfairly targeted.
Muslims constitute a majority of those prosecuted, followed by the minority Ahmadi community.
In 2012 the arrest of a young Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, on blasphemy charges provoked international outrage. After being detained in a high security prison for several weeks she was eventually released and her family subsequently fled to Canada.
More recently the conviction for blasphemy of Muhammad Asghar, an elderly British man with a history of mental illness, prompted global concern.
And Obama, the supposed Christian, gives aid money and weaponry to Pakistan and doesn't protect Christians there from obvious fascist Islamic religious repression. Obama's a big skinny whimp of a Prez when push comes to shove in really protecting human rights of people around the world under threat of religiously inspired fascist terrorism and repression. We need an American leader in our highest office and not these front people for hidden agenda special interest groups like the Zionists, the Big Oil and Bigger Heroine, human traffic trade networks, and weaponry mfgs, making billions of dollars off of promoting and maintaining human suffering when leadership could begin ending it tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment