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Pakistani Doctor Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy
ISLAMABAD, Aug 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Pakistani doctor received a death sentence and heavy fine for making blasphemous remarks about Prophet Muhammad (SAW), Pakistani officials said.
Younis Sheikh, a homeopathic doctor arrested in April, was also fined 100,000 rupees (about $1,500) for uttering the insulting remarks in a lecture he gave at a private college in Islamabad ten months ago, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said Sunday.
A court headed by Judge Safdar Hussain Malik tried Sheikh. The verdict was announced late Saturday inside the high security Adyala jail in the nearby city of Rawalpindi.
Sheikh, who can still appeal the verdict, was convicted under Section 295(c) of the Pakistan Penal Code which prescribes a death sentence if charges of blasphemy are proven, along with a fine, reported the Pakistani daily, Dawn.
Section 295(c) was added to the Pakistan Penal Code in 1986 and provided that whoever made derogatory remarks in respect of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) "by words either spoken, or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defil[ing] the sacred name of Holy Prophet Muhammad, shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine."
Section 295(c), however, was amended in 1992 by Nawaz Sharif's government due to pressure from religious organizations, deleting the proviso under which life imprisonment could also be awarded, added the paper.
A leader of the international organization, Majlis-i-Tahafuz-i-Khatam-i-Nabuwat, Maulana Muhammad Abdur-Rauf, had reported to the Margalla police station on October 2, 2000, that Sheikh, while delivering a lecture at the Islamabad Homoeopathic College, G-9, Islamabad, had made blasphemous remarks, reported Dawn.
He said a group of students had lodged a complaint with him in this regard.
Abdur-Rauf filed his complaint on behalf of a student, Muhammad Asghar, reported AFP.
The accused was arrested immediately and has been detained at the Adiyala jail since then.
Sheikh denied the charge and submitted before the court a written statement declaring that he had full faith in Islam and could not even think of committing blasphemy, said Dawn.
After conducting hearings in open court for some time, the court later decided to continue hearings within the premises of the jail, fearing violent reactions as a number of religious leaders and activists of religio-political parties were attending the hearings.
Newspapers quoted Sheikh as telling the court that Asghar, a foreign ministry employee, because of a personal quarrel, framed him, AFP said.
Dozens of people have been convicted under Pakistan's tough blasphemy law, but so far no one has been executed, pending appeals.
This is the first time a Muslim doctor has been given the death penalty under the law, although many members of the minority Christian community in Pakistan have been convicted of similar offences.
Once a blasphemy charge is laid, police have to make an immediate arrest, said the Iranian news agency, IRNA.
Shortly after the October 1999 coup that brought him to power, President Pervez Musharraf was forced into an embarrassing come down over plans to make blasphemy cases more difficult to register.
Pakistan's religious organizations are bitterly opposed to any changes to the law and threaten street agitation if politicians ever push for an overhaul.
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