Death sentence for blasphemy

A PAKISTANI man has been sentenced to death for blasphemy after he defiled the Muslim holy book and used derogatory language to refer to the Prophet Mohammad, a police official said.

Convictions for blasphemy are fairly common in predominantly Muslim Pakistan, with most cases involving members of religious minorities, but death sentences have never been carried out usually because convictions are thrown out on a lack of evidence.

The convicted man, Mohammad Shafeeq, a Muslim in his early 20s, was arrested in 2006 in a village near the eastern city of Sialkot where the trial was held in the court of Justice Shoaib Ahmad Roomi.

“Judge Roomi sentenced him to death for defiling the Holy Koran and using derogatory language against the Prophet,” said Shezada Hassan Ali, a senior official at the jail where Shafeeq has been kept.

“He can appeal the court decision.”

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says blasphemy law is misused against religious minorities such as Christians.

The US-based Human Rights Watch group this week urged the abolition of the death penalty in Pakistan, where nearly a quarter of 31,400 convicts in the country have been sentenced to death.

In 2007, 309 prisoners were sentenced to death and 134 were hanged, the group said, adding that most of those sentenced to death were poor and illiterate

From http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,23887780-401,00.html?from=public_rss

  • http://au.youtube.com/user/askegg askegg

    I am amazed we are living in a world were people will kill each other because they don’t share beliefs in invisible deities.

  • Pingback: Pages tagged "blasphemy"

  • moslim

    i guess the artical's writter is a big liar and if pakistan do that this is the business it dosn't reflect islam orders its hard to convert a real moslim to be chritian because he already knew that he's took the right decision and i think that this artical is one of the frequent attemps to attack islam and trying stoping its widespreading

  • ali

    nothing but a great a rubbish.now after 18th amendment the islamic law abt apostasy has lost his legal authuristy where it was never applied in the past.so the art is based on…………

  • ali

    authority*lolzz


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