Another Christian was sentenced to death in Pakistan, joining Ayub Masih in the lineup of Pakistani Christians on death row for alleged blasphemy against Islam.
Augustine Ashiq “Kingri” Masih, 25, was convicted June 29 by the Faisalabad District and Sessions Court on charges of slandering the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Under the mandatory execution statutes of Section 295-C of the Pakistan penal code, Masih must be hanged for the alleged offense.
Presiding Judge Chaudhry Mohammed Rafique also assessed an additional fine of 50,000 rupees ($830) against the young Christian.
Masih was jailed in May 2000 on accusations that he made derogatory remarks against the prophet Mohammed while some Muslim acquaintances were questioning him about changing his religious faith.
Some two years earlier, Masih had reportedly converted to Islam in order to marry a Muslim girl, taking the name Mohammed Abdullah. Under Islamic family law, a Muslim woman is forbidden to marry a non-Muslim man.
But the young man was never allowed to marry the girl after converting to Islam, a representative of the Catholic community to which Masih and his family belong said. Some months later, Masih officially changed his religion back to Christianity. The laws of Pakistan allow citizens to change their religion, although Muslims who do so are branded “apostates” and subjected to strong family and societal pressures.
Inquiry report
According to a three-page inquiry report, which the local deputy commissioner of police prepared on the incident, Masih’s accuser, Rana Mohammed Nisar, had questioned Masih on March 17, 2000, asking whether it was true that after “embracing Islam” he had returned to Christianity.
Nisar claimed that Masih told him in the presence of four other eyewitnesses that he had become a Muslim so he could commit adultery with Muslim girls, declaring, “Your prophet was also very fond of this practice.” Nisar told the police he slapped Masih for these remarks, but then some 15 to 20 Christians nearby came to Masih’s aid, giving Nisar a beating that put him in the hospital. Muslims and Christians reportedly threw bricks at each other during the clash, which was eventually broken up by local police.
The police commissioner’s superior, identified only by his handwritten initials RDM, initialed the police inquiry April 27, authorizing a formal case to be filed against Masih May 3 at the Ghulamabad police station in Faisalabad.
In a statement reported by the Daily Times, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan head Afrasiab Khattak declared Masih’s verdict should be appealed “because we know that previous cases like this were discarded by higher courts.”
Now moved to death row in the Faisalabad District Jail, Masih has seven days to file a high court appeal of his judgment. Masih has already served more than two years in jail without benefit of bail. Local human rights advocates confirmed that although they had been aware of this case, they had not been in direct contact with the prisoner, his family or his lawyer since the verdict. “I think he had a court-appointed lawyer,” said a representative of the HRCP, which is trying to obtain a copy of the official verdict. (EP)
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