It was thrown on the floor. Allegedly. But never fear, Khalid Khawaja, a former official of Pakistan’s secret service and a friend of Osama bin Laden, is on the case of this immense human rights violation. From AKI, with thanks to Hutchrun:
Karachi, 27 Dec. (AKI) – (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) – After the reported desecration of the Koran in the Guantanamo Bay prison, which provoked riots in Afghanistan that killed at least fifteen people, a group of Islamic terror suspects in custody in Pakistan have gone on a hunger strike alleging that the Muslim sacred book has also been desecrated in their Pakistani jail. The 16 signatories of the letter, from Cell number 3 of Adyala Jail in Pakistan’s military capital Rawalpindi, have appealed to the media and to human right activists. Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, desecration of the Koran can merit the death penalty.
“They belong to all classes of Jihadis, ranging from anti-Shiite sectarians to anti-western followers of Osama bin Laden. They are all awaiting trial and some of them have been waiting for the last five years,” said a source in Adyala Jail….
In their signed message the prisoners maintained that when Tipu Sultan visited their cell, the inmates were performing their prayers individually as they were in shackles and cannot perform prayers collectively.
In their account the assistant superintendent cursed them and forced them to stop their prayers and conducted a search during which a copy of the Koran was recovered. They say he threw it on the ground and yelled: “This is the book which teaches you terrorism. This is the book which has brought you here.”
“We have also received the message and we shall not tolerate these sort of events,” said retired squadron leader Khalid Khawaja. A former official of Pakistan’s secret service, ISI, Khalid Khawaja was forced to retire after which he joined the Afghan resistance against the Soviet occupation and allegedly became a close friend of Osama bin Laden. Recently he formed a human rights organization, Defence of Human Rights, primarily to fight for the human rights of Jihadis and their families.