Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide

by Paul Marshall

  43. International Religious Freedom Report 2002, U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2002/14026.htm; Khan, “Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan.”

  44. Marshall, Religious Freedom in the World, 321.

  45. International Religious Freedom Report 2008, U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008.

  46. The Persecution.org, “Summary of the Cases,” http://thepersecution.org/facts/summary.html. The U.S. State Department records from early 2008: “In January 2008 authorities arrested an Ahmadi in Wazirabad, Punjab, on charges of distributing Ahmadi-related pamphlets. He was granted bail in March 2008 and forced to leave the area after receiving numerous death threats. In January 2008 police charged an Ahmadiyya businessman, Manzur Ahmed, with destroying pages that included religious inscriptions.… On March 6, 2008, police arrested 80-year-old Ahmadi Altaf Husain in Kabeerwala for desecrating the Qur’an. According to police, a student saw Husain rip pages out of the Qur’an and throw them on the ground. Members of the Ahmadiyya community stated that Husain was reading the power meter outside his home when the student warned him that he was stepping on a page of the Qur’an.… On June 18, 2008, Mohammad Shafeeq was sentenced to death for blasphemy after he allegedly defiled the Qur’an and used derogatory language to refer to the Prophet Mohammad.” See International Religious Freedom Report 2008; International Herald Tribune, June 18, 2008; “Muslim Man in Pakistan Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy,” http://newshopper.sulekha.com/news/muslim-man-in-pakistan-sentenced-to-death-forblasphemy.htm. For another case, see “Presumed Guilty Five Ahmadis Arrested in Punjab for Blasphemy,” AsiaNews.it, February 13, 2009, http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14481, and Asian Human Rights Commission, “Four Children and One Man Have Been Arbitrarily Arrested and Charged,” January 30, 2009, http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/1859/. In March 2009, two Ahmadi medical doctors were brutally murdered by unknown assailants. Dr. Shiraz Ahmad Bajwa and his wife, Dr. Noreen Bajwa, pregnant with her first child, were strangled to death in their home and then hung from a fan. There has been no motive attributed to the murders apart from the couple’s Ahmadi identity. See “Brutal Murder of Ahmadi Muslim Husband and Wife in Pakistan,” Fox Business, March 16, 2009, http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS83347+16-Mar-2009+PRN20090316.

  47. “Pakistan: Insufficient Protection of Religious Minorities” (n. 28 above).

  48. Ibid.

  49. “Pakistan: Two Persons Murdered after an Anchor Person Proposed the Widespread Lynching of Ahmadi Sect Followers,” Asian Human Rights Commission, Urgent Appeals Programme, September 10, 2008, http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2008/2999/.

  50. Asian Human Rights Commission Statement, AHRC-STM-062–2009, March 18, 2009, http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/1947/.

  51. Jane Perlez and Waqar Gillani, “Sectarian Attacks Hit Two Pakistani Mosques,” New York Times, May 28, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/world/asia/29pstan.html?ref=world; “Pakistan Mosque Attacks in Lahore Kill Scores,” BBC News, May 28, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/10181380.stm.

  52. M Zulqernain, “Sharif Stuns Pakistan: Calls Ahmedis Brothers,” Indian Express, June 8, 2010, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sharif-stuns-pakistan-calls-ahmedis-brother/630800/.

  53. “Pakistan: Insufficient Protection of Religious Minorities.” See also Javaid Rehman, “Minority Rights and the Constitutional Dilemmas of Pakistan,” in Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 19, no. 4 (2001): 417–43; “Religious Intolerance in Pakistan.”

  54. On some other cases, see David Pinault, “Loser’s Vengeance: Muslim-Christian Relations and Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law,” America 194, no. 13 (April 10, 2006); “Sangla Hill Christian Accused of Blasphemy Released,” February 22, 2006, http://www.asianews.it/index.php?art=5456&l=en; International Christian Concern (ICC), “Faces of Persecution in Pakistan,” June 6, 2001, http://www.persecution.org/concern/2001/06/p3.html; Religious Prisoners Congressional Task Force: The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, http://www.house.gov/pitts/initiatives/humanrights/hr-rp-pak-ayubmasih.htm; Amnesty International, Annual Report 2002, http://www.amnesty.org; “Faces of Persecution in Pakistan (continued),” http://www.persecution.org/concern/2001/06/p4.html; “School Owner Muhammad Ibrahim Became Jealous Because the School Run by Pervez Masih Was Attracting More Pupils,” Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, http://www.claas.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?ID=57; Ali Waqar, “84 Year Old Accused of Blasphemy,” The Daily Times, May 10, 2007. See also http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1826359.ece.

  55. For an overview of the Ayub Masih case, see “Death Sentence Confirmed for Ayub Masih,” Compass Direct News, August 24, 2001, https://www.strategicnetwork.org/index.php?loc=kb&view=v&id=6899&fto=662&; “Last Appeal for Ayub Masih,” Compass Direct News, September 21, 2001, http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=264&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Pakistan&rowcur=125; “Eleven Christians Currently Jailed on Blasphemy Charges,” Compass Direct News, July 18, 2002, http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=1503&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Pakistan&rowcur=100; “Acquitted Christian Flees to Freedom,” Compass Direct News, September 13, 2002, http://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&idelement=1573&lang=en&length=short&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Pakistan&rowcur=100.

  56. “Religious Intolerance in Pakistan.”

  57. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Briefing: Pakistan, Visit to Pakistan, October 25–November 2, 2004,” 5, http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=report&id=12&search.

  58. “Illiterate Christian Acquitted of Blasphemy,” June 16, 2003, http://www.crossroad.to/News/Persecution/alert/compass.htm.

  59. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, “Visit to Pakistan,” 6.

  60. “Illiterate Christian Acquitted of Blasphemy.”

  61. “Man to Die over Insult,” Daily Herald, June 2, 2007, 2, http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,1220,Man-to-die-over-insult,Daily-Herald,page2.

  62. Qaiser Felix, “Christian Tortured and Detained on False Charges of Blasphemy,” AsiaNews. it, July 3, 2009, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Faisalabad,-a-Christian-tortured-and-detained-on-false-charges-of-blasphemy-15685.html; “Pakistani Christian Sentenced to Life Under Blasphemy Law,” Compass Direct News, January 22, 2010, http://www.compass-direct.org/english/country/pakistan/14329; Fareed Khan, “Punjab: Christian Couple Touches Qur’an with Dirty Hands, Gets 25 Years in Prison,” AsiaNews.it, March 3, 2010, http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/14329.

  63. “Blasphemer Attacked in Pakistan”; Joshua Partlow, “They Want to Destroy Christians,” The Washington Post, August 3, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/02/AR2009080202011.html; “Pakistan Christians Burned to Death in Islamist Attacks,” Compass Direct News, August 1, 2009, http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2009/08/pakistan_christ.html; “Gojra Assault Was Planned in Advance: HRCP,” Dawn.com, August 7, 2009, http://www.hrcp-web.org/shownews.asp?id=33.

  64. “Blasphemer Attacked in Pakistan”; Joshua Partlow, “They Want to Destroy Christians”; “Christians Flee after Muslims Destroy Village,” Union of Catholic Asian News, July 31, 2009, http://www.ucanews.com/2009/07/31/christians-flee-after-muslims-destroy-village; Sabrina Tavernise, “Hate Engulfs Christians in Pakistan,” The New York Times, August 3, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/world/asia/03pstan.html; Omar Waraich, “Pakistan: Who’s Attacking the Christians?” Time, August 6, 2009, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1914750,00.html; Zofeen Ebrahim, “Attacks on Christians Spotlight Blasphemy Laws,” Inter Press Service, August 25, 2009, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48206; “Reemergence of Violence Against Christians in Pakistan,” Report and Analysis by NCJP, August 4, 2009.

&n
bsp; 65. Tavernise, “Hate Engulfs Christians in Pakistan.” For further reports on Gojra and related incidents, see Partlow, “They Want to Destroy Christians”; “Christians Flee after Muslims Destroy Village”; Omar Waraich, “Pakistan: Who’s Attacking the Christians?”; Ebrahim, “Attacks on Christians Spotlight Blasphemy Laws”; Salman Masood and Waqar Gillani, “4 Militants Held in Fatal Attack on Christians in Pakistani Town,” New York Times, September 10, 2009; “5 More Pakistani Christians Killed,” Zenit, September, 9, 2009, http://www.zenit.org/article-26757?l=english; Fareed Khan, “Punjab, Muslim Extremists Burn Church over Alleged Blasphemy Case,” AsiaNews.it, September 12, 2009, http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16308; “LHC Grants Bail to Muslims Accused of Gojra Violence: Killers of Robert Danish Will Be Reinstated,” Pakistan Christian Post, September 18, 2009, http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/viewnews.php?newsid=1499; “Pakistani Christian Youth Accused of Blasphemy Killed in Sialkot Jail,” Pakistan Christian Post, September 15, 2009, http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/viewnews.php?newsid=1496; “Pakistani Church Burned by Muslims,” Zenit, September, 19, 2009, http://www.zenit.org/article-26875?l=english; “Police Shoot Mourners at Funeral of Christian,” Compass Direct News, September 17, 2009, http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/9439/; Fareed Khan, “Sialkot: Police Charges Crowd at Funeral for Young Man Killed in Prison for Blasphemy,” AsiaNews.it, September 16, 2009; Brian Sharma, “Cooperation among Police, Muslim and Christian Leaders Stave Off Religious Brushfires,” Compass Direct News/HRWF, September 9, 2009; “Archbishop Saldanha Condemns Killing and Carnage in Gojra, Calls for Closure of Christian Institutions for Three Days Mourning in Punjab,” Pax Christi press release, August 3, 2009, http://storage.paxchristi.net/2009–0553-en-ap-HR.pdf; “Reemergence of Violence Against Christians in Pakistan” (n. 64 above).

  66. Waqar Gillani and Sabrina Tavernise, “Pakistan Rights Groups Seek Answers on Christian’s Death,” New York Times, September 16, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/world/asia/17pstan.html. See also ANI, “Pakistan Govt Asked to Review Blasphemy Law,” Pakistan News.net, September 2, 2009; “Statement on the Misuse of the Blasphemy Law and the Security of Religious Minorities in Pakistan,” World Council of Churches, September 1, 2009, http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/resources/documents/central-committee/geneva-2009/reports-and-documents/report-on-public-issues/statement-on-the-misuse-of-the-blasphemy-law-and-the-security-of-religious-minorities-in-pakistan.html; see also “Pakistani Christians ‘Live in Fear,’ Churches Say,” Reuters, September 23, 2009.

  67. “Muslim Threats to Christians Rise in Pakistan,” The Washington Times, October 4, 2009, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/04/muslim-threats-to-christians-on-rise-in-pakistan/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_headlinespage=2; “Pakistan Leader, Pope Talk of Attacks on Christians,” Zenit, October 1, 2009, http://www.zenit.org/article-27014?l=english; “Zardari Promises Pope to Overcome Discrimination Caused by Religion,” AsiaNews.it, http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16475&size=A. See also “All Christian Parties Conference to End Blasphemy Law Set to Launch Movement,” Pakistan Christian Post, October 18, 2009, http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/headline-newsd.php?hnewsid=1460; Maria Mackay, “Pakistan’s Minorities Minister Vows to End Persecution of Christians,” Christian Today, October 11, 2009, http://www.christiantoday.com/article/pakistans.minorities.minister.vows.to.end.persecution.of.christians/24358.htm; Zeeshan Haider, “Pakistan Intends to Alter Blasphemy Law,” Reuters, February 25, 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61O1M820100225. According to a Pakistani government official, possible changes included requiring an investigation and a judge’s approval before a case could be registered, as well as demanding proof that defendants had intended to commit blasphemy.

  68. Ishaq Tanoli, “Life Term for Blasphemy Accused,” Dawn, February 26, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/life-term-for-blasphemy-accused-620; Fareed Khan, “Punjab: Christian Couple Touches Qur’an with Dirty Hands”; “Pakistan’s ‘Blasphemy’ Laws Claim Three More Christians,” Compass Direct News, March 10, 2010.

  69. Tanoli, “Life Term for Blasphemy Accused”; Khan, “Punjab: Christian Couple Touches Qur’an with Dirty Hands”; “Pakistan’s ‘Blasphemy’ Laws Claim Three More Christians.”

  70. “ ‘Blasphemy Laws’ Used to Jail Elderly Christian in Pakistan,” Compass Direct News, June 29, 2010, http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/22092/. For other cases, see Thomas Kelly, “‘Blasphemy Laws’ Used to Jail Elderly Christian,” Compass Direct News, June 26, 2010, http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/22092/; “Lahore: Christians Accused of Blasphemy Flee Extremists and Police,” AsiaNews.it, July 9, 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Lahore:-Christians-accused-of-blasphemy-flee-extremists-and-police-18892.html.

  71. Rob Crilly and Aoun Sahi, “Christian Woman Sentenced to Death ‘for Blasphemy,’” The Telegraph, November 9, 2010.

  72. Daily Jang, July 11, 2001, excerpted in National Commission for Justice and Peace, A Report on the Religious Minorities in Pakistan.

  73. International Religious Freedom Report 2008.

  74. Alex Alexiev, “The Taliban of Fact and Washington Fiction,” National Review Online, May 13, 2009, http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGIyNWUwMGVjOWI0MmFmNDIwNTI3YzI1NmFhN2JmMDk.

  75. Amnesty International, “Pakistan: Insufficient Protection of Religious Minorities.”

  76. The following is drawn from Daily Dawn, July 10, 2002, excerpted in NCJP, A Report on the Religious Minorities in Pakistan, (n. 4 above).

  77. Daily Dawn, July 7, 2002, excerpted in National Commission for Justice and Peace, A Report on the Religious Minorities in Pakistan.

  78. Donna E. Arzt, “The Treatment of Religious Dissidents Under Islamic Law,” in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives, ed. John Witte, Jr. and Johan D. van der Vyver (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1996), 430.

  79. “Blasphemer Attacked in Pakistan.”

  80. “Pakistan, Islamists Sign Deal to Enforce Sharia,” ABC News, February 16, 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/16/2493056.htm; Zarar Khan, “Pakistan President Agrees to Islamic Law in Swat,” AP, April 13, 2009, http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/04/14/70606.html; “Militants Bomb Ancient Shrine in Pakistan,” The Independent, March 5, 2009, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/militants-bomb-ancient-shrine-in-pakistan-1637955.html; Douglas Feith and Justin Polin, “Radio-Free Swat Valley,” The New York Times, March 30, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/opinion/30feith.html; “Blasphemer Attacked in Pakistan.”

  81. Nahal Toosi, “Pakistanis Blame US after Shrine Attack Kills 42,” AP, July 2, 2010, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100702/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan; Mubashir Bukhari, “Suicide Bombers Strike Shrine in Lahore, Pakistan, Killing at Least 35,” Washington Post, July 2, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/01/AR2010070106081_pf.html.

  82. For more information on Shaikh, see Celia Dugger, “Pakistani Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy,” New York Times, August 20, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/20/inter-national/asia/20DOCT.html; “Dr. Shaikh Sentenced to Death,” http://www.rationalistinternational.net/Shaikh/2001.08.26.htm; Ahmad, “Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws”; “Blasphemy Doctor Faces Death,” The Guardian, August 19, 2001, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,539348,00.html. A good overview is given in “Dr Younus Shaikh Free!” International Humanist and Ethical Union, January 23, 2004, http://www.iheu.org/node/85. Dr. Shaikh should not be confused with Younus Shaikh, who, in July, 2007, was sentenced by Karachi’s Anti-Terrorism Court to life imprisonment under section 295-B for writing a book that the judge claimed had negated the punishment of rajam (stoning to death in the case of adultery). “Blasphemous Writer Gets Life Term,” The News International (Karachi), July 30, 2007, http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=65594.

  83. Dugger, “Pakistani Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy”
; see also “Dr. Shaikh Sentenced to Death,” http://www.rationalistinternational.net/Shaikh/2001.08.26.htm.

  84. Ahmad, “Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws.”

  85. Dugger, “Pakistani Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy.”

  86. Ahmad, “Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws.”

  87. Paul Wiseman, “Words Can Bring Death Sentence in Pakistan,” USA Today, March 25, 2002, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/03/26/usat-blasphemy.htm.

  88. See “Dr Younus Shaikh Free!”

  89. Daily Dawn, July 8, 2002, excerpted in National Commission for Justice and Peace, A Report on the Religious Minorities in Pakistan.

  90. Fasih Ahmed, “The War on Words,” Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/id/167386/output/print; “Death Threat for Editor Najam Sethi over Islamic Cartoon,” Times Online, July 26, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4402382.ece.

  91. Salman Masood and Carlotta Gall, “Prominent Ally of Pakistan’s President Is Assassinated,” New York Times, January 4, 2011; Zahid Hussain and Tom Wright, “Pakistan Assassin Had Revealed Plans,” Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2011; “Pope Urges Pakistan to Repeal Blasphemy Law,” BBC, January 10, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/world-south-asia-12156825