Related Research Articles
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is a Tanzanian conspirator of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization convicted for his role in the bombing of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was indicted in the United States as a participant in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He was on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list from its inception in October 2001. In 2004, he was captured and detained by Pakistani forces in a joint operation with the United States, and was held until June 9, 2009, at Guantanamo Bay detention camp; one of 14 Guantanamo detainees who had previously been held at secret locations abroad. According to The Washington Post, Ghailani told military officers he is contrite and claimed to be an exploited victim of al-Qaeda operatives.
Mohammed Younus Shaikh is a Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist and freethinker.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Pakistan, making up about 1.27% of the population according to the 2017 Census. Of these, approximately half are Catholic and half Protestant. A small number of Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Oriental Orthodox Christians also live in Pakistan.
In 2023, Freedom House rated Pakistan’s human rights at 37 out 100.
The Pakistan Penal Code, the main criminal code of Pakistan, penalizes blasphemy against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. According to human rights groups, blasphemy laws in Pakistan have been exploited not so much for protecting religious sensablities of Muslims, but for persecuting minorities, and for settling personal rivalries -- often against other Muslims.
Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain was a Pakistani jurist who served as chief justice of the Lahore High Court. Most notably in his career as a judge, he presided over the trial of former prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Ahmed Raza Khan Kasuri Kheshgi is a Pakistani politician and lawyer. He is the son of Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri (1903-1974) who was assassinated in a car ambush in 1974.
In Islam, blasphemy is impious utterance or action concerning God, but is broader than in normal English usage, including not only the mocking or vilifying of attributes of Islam but denying any of the fundamental beliefs of the religion. Examples include denying that the Quran was divinely revealed, the Prophethood of one of the Islamic prophets, insulting an angel, or maintaining God had a son.
Salman Taseer was a Pakistani businessman and politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011.
The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria prohibits blasphemy against Islam by using legislation rather than by using Sharia. The penalty for blasphemy may be years of imprisonment as well as a fine. Every Algerian child has an opportunity to learn what blasphemy is because Islam is a compulsory subject in public schools, which are regulated jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
In 2010, a Pakistani Christian woman, Aasiya Noreen, commonly known as Asia Bibi or Aasia Bibi, was convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court and was sentenced to death by hanging. In October 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted her based on insufficient evidence, though she was not allowed to leave Pakistan until the verdict was reviewed. She was held under armed guard and was not able to leave the country until 7 May 2019; she arrived in Canada the next day.
Clement Shahbaz Bhatti was a Pakistani politician and the first Christian Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs. He was elected as a member of the National Assembly in 2008 for the Pakistan People's Party. Bhatti became the only Christian member of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's Cabinet on November 2nd. On 2 March 2011, Bhatti was assassinated outside his mother's home by members of the Pakistani Taliban for his opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy laws. In March 2016, his cause for beatification was formally opened by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi. He was given the honorary title Servant of God within the Roman Catholic Church.
Aik Aur Ghazi (2011) is a Punjabi-language film directed by Syed Noor. It is based on a man named Yusuf Kazzab from Lahore who claimed to be a prophet. He was sentenced to death by a lower court of Pakistan and was murdered by a man named Tariq in jail.
Rimsha Masih is a Pakistani girl from Islamabad, who was arrested by the Pakistani police on blasphemy charges in August 2012 when she was 14 years old. The alleged charges included desecrating pages of the Quran by burning—a crime punishable by death under Pakistan's blasphemy law. She is a member of Pakistan's Christian minority.
Junaid Hafeez is a former M. Phil English student at a Pakistani university where he was teaching as visiting teacher as well. He was convicted of blasphemy under Pakistan's broad blasphemy laws and sentenced to death. Arrested in 2013, Hafeez was accused of making derogatory comments about the prophet of Islam, Muhammad on social media. Held in solitary confinement since 2014, his trial was repeatedly delayed, and Hafeez's first lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was murdered. In December 2019, Hafeez was convicted and sentenced to death by a Pakistani court. His detention and arrest have been condemned by human rights groups.
Mashal Khan was a student at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan who was killed by an angry mob in the premises of the university on 13 April 2017, over allegations of posting blasphemous content online. Following investigations, the Inspector General Police later stated "We did not find any concrete evidence under which [a blasphemy] investigation or legal action can be launched against Mashal, Abdullah or Zubair". Mashal's friend Abdullah stated to the police in writing that both Mashal and Abdullah were devout Muslims, but were actively denouncing mismanagement by the university and had previously led protests against it. Following the death of Khan, at least 61 suspects were identified. 57 of the 61 suspected were arrested and sentenced on 7 February 2018. One culprit was awarded the death penalty, five were awarded life-time imprisonment and 25 other culprits were awarded four years jail sentence. 26 suspects were acquitted in the case because of lack of evidence. Four suspects were on the run, who later surrendered to the police in June 2018. Later on 21 March 2019, two more culprits in Mashal Khan case were awarded life imprisonment by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC). Mashal Khan's father, speaking to media on 21 March 2019, claimed that he was satisfied with Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) verdict.
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan is a far-right Islamic extremist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Khadim Hussain Rizvi in August 2015. It was the fifth largest party in Pakistan at the time of the 2018 Pakistani general election, and secured over 2.2 million votes. It failed to win any seat in the National Assembly or the Punjab Assembly, but won three seats in the Sindh Assembly.
Khadim Hussain Rizvi was a Pakistani Islamic author and the founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a political-religious organization founded in 2015, known to protest against any change to Pakistan's blasphemy law.
Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana was a 49-year-old Sri Lankan man who was lynched by a mob on 3 December 2021 in Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan over allegations of blasphemy. Supporters of the Sunni party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) were believed to be part of the killing of Kumara, while the TLP officially distanced itself from the incident. The Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore later gave the death sentence to six who were involved in the lynching while nine others received life sentences. An additional 72 people were also sentenced to two years in prison.
References
 | This Pakistani biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |