Pakistan mission seeks blasphemy case details
Query was made after a US national called for probing a Faisalabad case.
LAHORE:
The Pakistan embassy in Washington has sought details of a blasphemy case from the Foreign Office after a US national called for reinvestigation.
A letter sent by US citizen Rod Makins said that Faisalabad police had arrested a Christian man, Imran Masih on July 1, 2009, for “burning pages of Quran”, adding that the charges were totally fabricated and false.
The 27-year-old Christian youth was sentenced to life imprisonment on January 11 last year on blasphemy charges.
The Foreign Office forwarded the query to the interior ministry which in turn called for details from the Regional Police Officer, Faisalabad, through the Punjab home department and the IG Punjab.
Imran, son of Ghafoor Masih, was convicted in the case registered under Sections 295-A and 295-B (insulting and desecrating Quran).
Judge Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan, handed down the sentence under the blasphemy law because the 27 year old apparently burnt verses from the Holy Quran and another book in Arabic “on purpose”, to “stir up religious hatred and offend the feelings of Muslims”.
Just before his arrest, Imran Masih, who is a shopkeeper by profession, was brutally tortured by a group of Muslim men.The man was also sentenced to serve another 10 years in prison. He is currently incarcerated in central prison in Faisalabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2011.
The Pakistan embassy in Washington has sought details of a blasphemy case from the Foreign Office after a US national called for reinvestigation.
A letter sent by US citizen Rod Makins said that Faisalabad police had arrested a Christian man, Imran Masih on July 1, 2009, for “burning pages of Quran”, adding that the charges were totally fabricated and false.
The 27-year-old Christian youth was sentenced to life imprisonment on January 11 last year on blasphemy charges.
The Foreign Office forwarded the query to the interior ministry which in turn called for details from the Regional Police Officer, Faisalabad, through the Punjab home department and the IG Punjab.
Imran, son of Ghafoor Masih, was convicted in the case registered under Sections 295-A and 295-B (insulting and desecrating Quran).
Judge Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan, handed down the sentence under the blasphemy law because the 27 year old apparently burnt verses from the Holy Quran and another book in Arabic “on purpose”, to “stir up religious hatred and offend the feelings of Muslims”.
Just before his arrest, Imran Masih, who is a shopkeeper by profession, was brutally tortured by a group of Muslim men.The man was also sentenced to serve another 10 years in prison. He is currently incarcerated in central prison in Faisalabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2011.