Pakistan court sentences Muslim man to death for blasphemy

[$elf]

A court in Pakistan on Monday sentenced a 35-year-old Muslim man to death under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, his lawyer said. Zulfiqar Ali was convicted of writing derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad and Islamic prayers on a wall in the Islampura neighborhood of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab province. Lahore's additional session's court judge Naveed Iqbal handed down a verdict of capital punishment to Zulfiqar Ali and imposed a fine of 100,000 rupees (US$1,000).

Syed Kashif Ali Bokhari, defense counsel for Ali, told ucanews.com his client had been suffering from a psychiatric disorder and had remained in a mental hospital during the long trial. The court should have decided the case on the basis of his medical condition, Bokhari said, adding that constant pressure from clerics might have played a role in the verdict.

“Nobody has ever visited him in the jail, nor does he remember any of his relatives,” the lawyer added. Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the 180 million population is Muslim.

In May this year, Rashid Rehman, a noted human rights activist, was gunned down inside his chamber for defending a man accused of blasphemy in the Multan district of Punjab province. In early 2011, Pakistan’s sitting governor Salman Taseer and a Catholic minister were assassinated in a span of three months for speaking in support of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five sentenced to death for blasphemy.

Read more at: Pakistan court sentences Muslim man to death for blasphemy ucanews.com

 

[mujhaidind]

Good Job! We need the same law in here.

 

[Viper0011.]

A court in Pakistan on Monday sentenced a 35-year-old Muslim man to death under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, his lawyer said. Zulfiqar Ali was convicted of writing derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad and Islamic prayers on a wall in the Islampura neighborhood of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab province. Lahore's additional session's court judge Naveed Iqbal handed down a verdict of capital punishment to Zulfiqar Ali and imposed a fine of 100,000 rupees (US$1,000).

In May this year, Rashid Rehman, a noted human rights activist, was gunned down inside his chamber for defending a man accused of blasphemy in the Multan district of Punjab province. In early 2011, Pakistan’s sitting governor Salman Taseer and a Catholic minister were assassinated in a span of three months for speaking in support of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five sentenced to death for blasphemy

These laws need to change a little and the system needs to be more forgiving. I don't want to insult anyone's believes but death sentence is too much punishment for someone's mental condition in this case. Also, prohibition can still be enforced in other means and lighter punishment like a fine or a ticket. Let the God himself deal with the individual and give him punishment. Humans shouldn't be sentencing people to death because someone said anything about a religion or a culture.

Good Job! We need the same law in here.

You guys are worse in some cases, your nationalist Hindu brethren will just burn down the entire village with minorities sleeping in their homes. Here, at least a court was involved, in your situation, you guys just murder without any mercy and scores of people. Neither one is humane treatment and both the killing situation in India and Blasphemy laws in Pakistan should change.

 

[liall]

Blasphemy laws must be removed. It is not stone age any more

 

[LURKER]

Who's running the Rants of a Pakistani citizen page on Facebook, if he's in Pakistan how come he's alive till now