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Pakistan: Mentally ill 68-year-old man gets death for blasphemy for calling himself prophet in letters he never sent

Jan 24, 2014 11:01 am By Robert Spencer

Abolishblasphemylaw

Clearly the mental illness is far more pronounced in those who handed down this sentence than in the man who has been condemned to death. The Pakistani blasphemy laws should be an international human rights issue. But no one dares talk about them, because they’re Sharia-based, and so to oppose them would be “Islamophobic.”

“Pakistani court condemns mentally ill Briton to death for blasphemy,” by Katharine Houreld for Reuters, January 24 (thanks to Lookmann):

(Reuters) – Pakistan has handed a death sentence for blasphemy to a 68-year-old Briton with a history of mental illness, even though his lawyers were barred from the courtroom partway through the trial, the lawyers said on Friday.

Accusations of blasphemy are surging in Pakistan, according to an Islamabad-based think-tank, the Center for Research and Security Studies. Many analysts see the claims as score-settling or a front for property grabs.

The charges are hard to fight because the law does not define what is blasphemous and presenting the evidence can sometimes itself be considered a fresh infringement.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Sixty-eight-year-old Muhammad Asghar from Edinburgh was sentenced to death on Thursday, the law firm said, citing court officials in the city of Rawalpindi, neighboring the capital.

The firm said it was not present during the judgment because the judge had prevented it from representing Asghar in court since October.

He was arrested in 2010 after writing letters to a lawyer and politician claiming to be a prophet. Though Asghar did not post the letters, a disgruntled tenant whom he was in the process of evicting took them to police, the law firm said.

Asghar has previously been detained under the mental health act in Britain and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, it added.

After the removal of the law firm, Asghar was appointed a state counsel, who did not put his medical history in evidence or call witnesses in his defense, and did not question a state-appointed board that declared him sane, the firm said.

The state counsel could not immediately be reached for comment.

The law firm asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted by extremists. Lawyers defending those accused of blasphemy frequently receive death threats and politicians supporting reform of the law have been killed.

A British doctor, 72-year-old Masood Ahmad, is also in prison in Pakistan, charged with blasphemy after a mullah used a mobile telephone to covertly record a conversation with him in his dispensary.

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Filed Under: blasphemy, Pakistan


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Comments

  1. mortimer says

    Jan 24, 2014 at 11:23 am

    Every week, doctors in hospitals meet patients who are deluded about their ‘true identity’.

    This confirms yet again that the blasphemy laws of Pakistan are mostly used to settle scores and avoid paying debts.

    Islamic law is inherently subjective, arbitrary and unjust.

  2. Salah says

    Jan 24, 2014 at 11:26 am

    “Clearly the mental illness is far more pronounced in those who handed down this sentence than in the man who has been condemned to death.”

    Well said! Mental illness and Islam are inseparable.

    Muhammad’s mental condition was a matter of concern since his childhood. His wet nurse thought he was demon possessed…

    http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/10/muhammad-and-satan_24.html

    • Champ says

      Jan 24, 2014 at 1:35 pm

      “Well said! Mental illness and Islam are inseparable.”

      Exactly, Salah, lol! I read the headline and thought the *same* thing.

  3. Jay Boo says

    Jan 24, 2014 at 11:26 am

    Pakistani blasphemy laws
    ———–
    Who put Islamists in charge, Allah?
    Well then, excuse us for even asking.

  4. Bettina says

    Jan 24, 2014 at 11:28 am

    Does fascism get any more cruelly repressive? Defendants stripped of bona fide legal counsel while what passes for court-appointed attorneys are in league with the system to make sure the accused is damned?
    On what planet does this satanic conspiracy take place? Wait… oh, yeah, Planet Islam!

  5. gravenimage says

    Jan 24, 2014 at 11:21 pm

    Pakistan: Mentally ill 68-year-old man gets death for blasphemy for calling himself prophet in letters he never sent
    ………………………………

    This is a minor trope, but it pops up quite frequently: the idea that while the bad ol’ West sent mentally ill people to inhumane places like Bedlam, that the Muslim world was much more civilized, and had a sort of indulgent view of the insane.

    Clearly, like other tropes such as Islamic “human rights” and scientific gains, this is basically bs.

    Would anyone in the West—even going back some centuries—ever sentence a mentally ill person to death who thought that he was Jesus? Of course not.

    More:

    Clearly the mental illness is far more pronounced in those who handed down this sentence than in the man who has been condemned to death
    ………………………………

    That says it all…

    More:

    (Reuters) – Pakistan has handed a death sentence for blasphemy to a 68-year-old Briton with a history of mental illness, even though his lawyers were barred from the courtroom partway through the trial, the lawyers said on Friday.
    ………………………………

    Wait—the victim is a *Briton*? Is Britain fighting for this man’s release?

    More:

    He was arrested in 2010 after writing letters to a lawyer and politician claiming to be a prophet. Though Asghar did not post the letters, a disgruntled tenant whom he was in the process of evicting took them to police, the law firm said.
    ………………………………

    The usual—”blasphemy” laws are regularly used to settle scores and get “revenge”, as here. *Ugh*.

    More:

    Asghar has previously been detained under the mental health act in Britain and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, it added.
    ………………………………

    Asghar should have stayed in the civilized world…

    More:

    The law firm asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted by extremists. Lawyers defending those accused of blasphemy frequently receive death threats and politicians supporting reform of the law have been killed.
    ………………………………

    Yes—just daring to have defended this man puts them in the cross-hairs. *More* pious Muslims who are more insane than the defendant…

    More:

    A British doctor, 72-year-old Masood Ahmad, is also in prison in Pakistan, charged with blasphemy after a mullah used a mobile telephone to covertly record a conversation with him in his dispensary.
    ………………………………

    Why isn’t Britain fighting for their own citizens?

  6. EYESOPEN says

    Jan 25, 2014 at 9:48 am

    I guess islam could lay claim to having a most peculiar “cure” for paranoid schizophrenia.

  7. No Fear says

    Jan 26, 2014 at 3:09 am

    Anyone who wants to enforce the death penalty for the victimless crime of blasphemy has a serious mental illness.

    • Jan says

      Jan 26, 2014 at 5:48 am

      ”Anyone who wants to enforce the death penalty for the victimless crime of blasphemy has a serious mental illness”

      They’re not ‘mentally ill’, merely evil.

    • Jan says

      Jan 26, 2014 at 5:51 am

      ”Anyone who wants to enforce the death penalty for the victimless crime of blasphemy has a serious mental illness.”

      They are not ‘mentally ill’; merely evil.

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