Junaid Hafeez

Last updated

Junaid Hafeez
جنید حفیظ
Born
Rajanpur, Punjab, Pakistan
Alma mater
Employer Bahauddin Zakariya University
Criminal charges Blasphemy
Criminal penaltyDeath
Criminal statusIncarcerated

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..

Contents

Background and arrest

Hafeez was born in Rajanpur, Punjab and attended King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Punjab, after being given a gold medal in pre-medical studies at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education in the Dera Ghazi Khan Division. [1] In 2006 he left his medical studies to focus on English literature at Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) in Multan, Punjab. [1] In 2009, as a Fulbright Scholar, he traveled to Jackson, Mississippi to continue his studies at Jackson State University, [1] where he earned a master's degree in American literature, photography and theater. [2] He returned to BZU Multan in 2011 as a graduate student and a visiting lecturer for the English Department while also teaching at the College of Design. [3] [1] Hafeez taught English literature, [4] and as his thesis, Hafeez was writing an "ethnographic study of masculinity in popular cinema in Multan." [1]

Soon after his arrival, Hafeez was targeted by the Islamist groups Islami Jamiat Talaba (the student group affiliate of the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami) and Tehrik-tahafaz-e-Namoos-e-risalat, who opposed Hafeez's more liberal teachings. [1] They distributed pamphlets calling for Hafeez to be arrested and hanged, and staged a strike. [3] [1] Hafeez was quickly expelled and his housing and teaching contracts were revoked. [1]

Imprisonment and death sentence

Hafeez was arrested on 13 March 2013, in Multan. [5] He was held at Sahiwal Jail on the charge of violating section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, the blasphemy law that provides for a death sentence for anyone who in any way "defiles" the name of Muhammad. [1] Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are frequently used to target individuals to settle personal vendettas and to target religious minorities (such as Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, and atheists) and scholars. [4] [3] [6] Hafeez's father, Hafeez-ul Naseer, has attributed his arrest to the Islamists' opposition to his son's liberal views, and their desire to get one of their own members an open lecturer position. [4] Hafeez has been held in solitary confinement since June 2014, [5] [6] after being repeatedly attacked by other prisoners. [7] Since 2018 his conditions have been reported to have become more extreme, and Hafeez's physical and mental health have declined. [6]

Hafeez was accused of making derogatory comments about Muhammad on Facebook, and of hosting the British-Pakistani novelist Qaisra Shahraz. [2] He was accused of using the account Mulla Munnafiq to comment about Muhammad's wives in the closed group "So-Called Liberals of Pakistan." The police claimed to have gathered 1200 pages of material that incriminates him from his computer as well as a book called "Progressive Muslims" that he had received. [1]

Hafeez struggled to find a lawyer to defend him as the public in Pakistan views negatively anyone who defends someone accused of blasphemy. His original lawyer Mudassar left the case in June 2013 after facing multiple death threats. [1] Attorney Rashid Rehman then took on the case and faced a multitude of death threats himself, commenting to BBC that it was like "walking into the jaws of death" to defend someone accused of blasphemy in Pakistan. [3] A hearing for Hafeez was held on 3 April 2014 at Multan Central Jail and Rehman was told that he would not live to attend the next hearing by the prosecuting attorneys. [1] Despite these threats being made in front of the presiding judge, no charges were brought against them. [6] [3] On 7 May, two men walked into Rehman's office in Multan, shot him to death, and fled. [3]

Hafeez is represented by Shahbaz Gurmani as of December 2014; Gurmani, who is also representing two other defendants in blasphemy cases, has also received death threats including an incident where guns were fired outside of his home. [8]

Hafeez's case was repeatedly delayed, [5] proceeding before eight different judges, the previous seven having been transferred. [5] [6] In November 2019, Hafeez's parents wrote to Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, writing: "our son continues to await justice in a fabricated case." [9] Human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for Hafeez's immediate and unconditional release and the repeal of Pakistan's blasphemy laws. [6] [5] Amnesty International has designated Hafeez a prisoner of conscience, "detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression." [6] Calls for Hafeez's release have also been made by the U.S. government [4] and the organization Scholars at Risk. [10] Pakistan author Ali Sethi, in an op-ed published in the New York Times, described Hafeez's case as an example of "Pakistan's Tyranny of Blasphemy" characterized by extremist-led, government-tolerated violence and the murders of political dissidents. [3]

In December 2019, Hafeez was sentenced to death by a court at Multan Central Jail, [7] the high-security prison where Hafeez was held. [2] The verdict prompted an outcry from Hafeez's family and human rights groups. Amnesty International called it a "a vile and gross miscarriage of justice" and human rights activist I. A. Rehman, the former general secretary of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said: "The verdict is brutal and unjust. He has been in prison for six years for no reason. It is an open fact that trial courts in Pakistan rarely acquit accused in blasphemy cases." [2] Jail officials reportedly feared a mob attack if Hafeez was acquitted, and Hafeez's family said that the court had convicted due to external threats. [2] Hafeez's lawyer Asad Jamal said that Hafeez would appeal the verdict. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asma Jahangir</span> Pakistani human rights activist and lawyer

Asma Jilani Jahangir was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and AGHS Legal Aid Cell. Jahangir was known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers' Movement and served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and as a trustee at the International Crisis Group.

Mohammed Younus Shaikh is a Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist and freethinker.

Delwar Hossain Sayeedi was a Bangladeshi Islamist, politician, public speaker, and convicted war criminal, who served as a Member of Parliament representing the Pirojpur-1 constituency from 1996 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Pakistan</span> Overview of the situation of human rights throughout Pakistan

The situation of Human Rights in Pakistan is complex as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign Islamic democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and secular law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blasphemy in Pakistan</span> Pakistani penal code on insulting religion

The Pakistan Penal Code penalizes blasphemy against any recognized religion. Penalties provided range from a fine to death. It is the main criminal code of Pakistan. According to human rights groups, blasphemy laws in Pakistan have been exploited for persecuting minorities, and for settling personal rivalries - often against other Muslims and not as much for protecting religious sensibilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam and blasphemy</span> Overview of Islamic views on blasphemy

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blasphemy law in Saudi Arabia</span>

Saudi Arabia's laws are an amalgam of rules from Sharia, royal decrees, royal ordinances, other royal codes and bylaws, fatwas from the Council of Senior Scholars and custom and practice.

The main blasphemy law in Egypt is Article 98(f) of the Egyptian Penal Code. It penalizes: "whoever exploits and uses the religion in advocating and propagating by talk or in writing, or by any other method, extremist thoughts with the aim of instigating sedition and division or disdaining and contempting any of the heavenly religions or the sects belonging thereto, or prejudicing national unity or social peace."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq</span> Pakistani presidential administration from 1978 to 1988

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's tenure as the sixth president of Pakistan began on 16 September 1978 and ended with his death in an aircraft crash on 17 August 1988. Zia came to power after a coup, overthrowing prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and imposing martial law in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asia Bibi blasphemy case</span> 2010 Pakistani criminal case

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.

Qamar David was a Pakistani Christian convicted of blasphemy who died on 15 March 2011, in a jail in Karachi, Pakistan.

Ghazi Beji and Jabeur Mejri are Tunisian citizens sentenced on 28 March 2012 to 7.5 years' imprisonment for "transgressing morality, defamation and disrupting public order" after posting naked caricatures of Muhammad to Facebook. Mejri faced trial in court, while his friend Beji was convicted in absentia, having fled to Europe to escape prosecution. Mejri's appeal of his sentence was denied on 25 June 2012. Mejri's lawyer objected to his client being denied medical evaluation, describing him as "mentally unstable" and unemployed for the past six years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alber Saber</span> Egyptian computer science student and blogger (born c. 1985)

Alber Saber Ayad is an Egyptian computer science student and blogger who was arrested on 13 September 2012 on allegations of having shared the YouTube trailer for the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims on his Facebook page. While he was raised in a Coptic Christian family, he is now an atheist.

Rashid Rehman was a prominent Pakistani lawyer and a regional coordinator for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). He was well known for his work with clients who were poor or who were charged under Pakistan's vigorous blasphemy laws. After he became the defence lawyer for Junaid Hafeez in a controversial and widely publicized blasphemy case, he received death-threats, lastly in court in April 2014 by prosecution lawyers, but Rehman refused to abandon his client. As a result of this incident, complaints were laid with police and the District Bar Association but no action had been taken or protection provided when he was shot and killed by gunmen on 7 May 2014, and two colleagues injured.

Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar are a Pakistani Christian couple who in 2014 were convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court, receiving a sentence of death by hanging. In 2021, the convictions were overturned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir</span> Mauritanian blogger (born 1985)

Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir is a Mauritanian blogger who was a political prisoner from 2014 to 2019. He was sentenced to death after he wrote an article critical of Islam and the caste system in Mauritania, after which he became a designated prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. He now lives in exile in France due to concerns for his safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khadim Hussain Rizvi</span> Pakistani Islamic preacher (1966–2020)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apostasy in Islam by country</span>

The situation for apostates from Islam varies markedly between Muslim-minority and Muslim-majority regions. In Muslim-minority countries, "any violence against those who abandon Islam is already illegal". But in some Muslim-majority countries, religious violence is "institutionalised", and "hundreds and thousands of closet apostates" live in fear of violence and are compelled to live lives of "extreme duplicity and mental stress."

Ahmad Waqass Goraya is a Pakistani-born activist and blogger based in the Netherlands. He is among several Pakistani bloggers and authors overseas who are critics of the Pakistan Army who have been persecuted, tortured and threatened. They include Salman Haider, Gul Bukhari, and others.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cristo, Carmen (25 June 2014). "Jackson Rallies to Save Junaid Hafeez". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Shah Meer Baloch & Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Death sentence for Pakistani lecturer in blasphemy case prompts outcry, The Guardian (21 December 2019).
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sethi, Ali (20 May 2014). "Pakistan's Tyranny of Blasphemy". New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 S. Khan, Junaid Hafeez: Why is Pakistani scholar's blasphemy case receiving scant attention?, Deutsche Welle (10 July 2019).
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Pakistan: End Ordeal for 'Blasphemy' Defendants, Human Rights Watch (6 October 2019).
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pakistan: Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Junaid Hafeez, Amnesty International (25 September 2019).
  7. 1 2 3 Junaid Hafeez: Academic sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, BBC News (21 December 2019).
  8. ↑ "Pak lawyer defending blasphemy accused receives 'beheading threat' letter from IS". Deccan Chronicles. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  9. ↑ Junaid Hafeez’s parents appeal to CJ for justice, Dawn (29 November 2019).
  10. ↑ Pakistan: Release Professor Junaid Hafeez, Scholars at Risk (6 November 2019).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.