Death Penalty News

Pakistan’s Senate has passed legislation removing the death penalty for two specific crimes in what officials openly acknowledge is a calculated move to preserve billions in European trade benefits — while leaving untouched the blasphemy laws that have sent dozens of Christians to death row.  The Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, which awaits National Assembly approval and presidential sign-off, eliminates capital punishment for publicly stripping women and harboring hijackers. Pakistani officials did not attempt to disguise their motivation: the changes were explicitly designed to satisfy European Union requirements under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) trade scheme, which demands that death sentences be “limited to the most serious crimes only.”

No lawyer willing to represent Anwar Kenneth held by police since June 2001 After the recusal of 5 state lawyers, the Supreme Court has asked the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) to provide a counsel to represent a convict, who is on death row for the last 2 decades in a blasphemy case. The convict, Anwar Kenneth, a former official of the fisheries department, was accused of distributing a pamphlet containing blasphemous material. It has been reported that he was arrested by Lahore’s Gawalmandi police on June 15, 2001, while distributing a pamphlet.

Pakistan has further tightened its strict blasphemy laws by extending the punishment to those who are convicted for insulting religious figures connected to prophet Muhammad. The Pakistan National Assembly unanimously passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill which will not only widen the ambit of the law, but increase punishment and fines for those convicted under it.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday accepted a bail plea of a sanitary worker employed with the Lahore Waste Management Company, who has been facing a blasphemy charge since April 2021. A Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah granted bail to Salamat Mansha Masih, subject to furnishing the bail bond in the sum of Rs50,000 while hearing an appeal against the June 2022 Lahore High Court (LHC) rejection of a similar bail plea. Salamat Masih has been confined at the Lahore district jail since Jan 4, 2021. While accepting the plea the court also observed that the State should exercise extreme caution and care while dealing with cases falling within the category of blasphemy and should also extend complete protection to the accused until the charges levelled stand proved. Justice Isa also regretted about the tendency of levelling accusations and said every 2nd person raise fingers and blamed others of insulting the religion just like that without r...

THE life sentence for the longest-serving blasphemy prisoner in Pakistan has been changed to death by hanging. Zafar Bhatti, who is in his fifties, has been in prison in Rawalpindi, north-east Pakistan, for allegedly sending text messages that insulted the mother of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, an accusation that he has always denied. The advocacy group Release International says that, in 2012, Mr Bhatti was gathering evidence about Christian persecution when he was accused of sending the defamatory texts. He has always said that the texts were sent from a phone that was not registered in his name. In May 2017, Mr Bhatti, whom reports describe as a pastor or a charity worker, was given a life sentence. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom says that Mr Bhatti has reportedly been tortured to extract a confession, and has been attacked in prison. Having been held since July 2012, Mr Bhatti has now spent more time in prison than Asia Bibi, the Christian mother of five who w...

On December 3, 2021, a violent mob at the Wazirabad Road in Sialkot city (Sialkot District) of Punjab tortured a Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Kumara, to death over blasphemy allegations before burning his body. Kumara was accused of blasphemy for allegedly tearing down stickers of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) from a wall of factory. Kumar was working as a senior manager at a leading Sialkot factory that manufactures and exports sports products, The last killing of a foreign national on blasphemy allegations was reported on July 29, 2020, when Tahir Naseem, a US citizen and an Ahmadi, was shot dead inside a District Court in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the presence of security and the presiding judge. A video of the attacker, identified as Faisal Khan, in handcuffs, shouting angrily that his victim as an “enemy of Islam” was posted on various social media platforms. Faisal Khan was taken into custody on the spot. Meanwhile, in a press release on February 2, 2021, the Lahore-b...

Pakistan will continue to experience crimes such as the mob lynching in Sialkot without extensive discussions on the country’s controversial blasphemy laws On Friday, Dec. 3, furious workers at a factory in Sialkot tortured to death Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana—the facility’s 48-year-old Sri Lankan general manager for 11 years—after accusing him of the blasphemy of “insulting Islam’s Prophet.” The employees of Rajco Industries, making high-quality sports equipment for the national cricket team, initially staged a protest alleging that Kumara had committed blasphemy. RELATED | Pakistan | Mob kills Sri Lankan over alleged blasphemy His “blasphemous act” was removing off the factory wall a poster carrying an anti-blasphemy message often transmitted by the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) that believes in inflicting savage punishment on accused in the name of Islamic piety. While the TLP has distanced itself from the lynching in Sialkot, its mobs have been accused of killing innocent victims...

Officials say police have arrested 13 suspects and detained dozens of others in the lynching of a Sri Lankan employee at a sports equipment factory in eastern Pakistan Police arrested 13 suspects and detained dozens of others in the lynching of a Sri Lankan employee at a sports equipment factory in eastern Pakistan, officials said Saturday. A mob of hundreds of enraged Muslims descended on the factory in the district of Sialkot in Punjab province Friday after the Sri Lankan manager of the factory was accused of blasphemy. The mob grabbed Priyantha Kumara, lynched him and publicly burned the body, according to police. Factory workers accused the victim of desecrating posters bearing the name of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Punjab police chief Rao Sardar said Saturday that investigators arrested prominent suspects after seeing their clear role on video in instigating workers to violence, killing the manager and dragging his body outside, and taking selfies with his burning body and proudly...

Pakistan police say a Muslim mob has attacked a sports equipment factory in the eastern Punjab province, killing a Sri Lankan and burning his body over allegations of blasphemy LAHORE, Pakistan -- A Muslim mob attacked a sports equipment factory in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Friday, killing a Sri Lankan man and burning his body publicly over allegations of blasphemy, police said. Armagan Gondal, a police chief in Sialkot district where the killing occurred said that factory workers had accused the victim of desecrating posters bearing the name of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The Sri Lankan, Priyantha Diyawadana, was lynched by the mob inside the factory, Gondal said initial information showed. Videos circulating on social media showed a mob dragging the man's heavily bruised body out to the street, where they burned it in the presence of hundreds of demonstrators who cheered on the killers. However Gondal's district superior, Omar Saeed Malik, said police were s...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Muslim mob burned a police station and four police posts overnight in northwest Pakistan after officers refused to hand over a mentally unstable man accused of desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Quran, authorities said Monday. No officers were hurt in the attacks, which forced the police to summon troops to restore order in Charsadda, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local officer Asif Khan said. A video posted on social media showed the police station burning. Khan said officers foiled an attempt by the mob to lynch the detainee and the police moved him to another district. He did not disclose the name of the man, saying officers were still investigating and the suspect was arrested a day ago. Khan said officers initially resisted but fled after thousands of demonstrators attacked the police buildings. He said police avoided the use of force to prevent casualties among demonstrators.  The situation in Charsadda was normal Monday, he said, ...

LAHORE, Pakistan, November 22, 2021 (Morning Star News) – A Christian in Pakistan incarcerated for nearly 10 years on a false blasphemy conviction was released from prison on Nov. 9 after a high court acquitted him, but quietly to avoid Islamist outrage, his attorney said. The life prison sentence of Sajjad Masih Gill, 37, had been converted to the death penalty on March 10 under Islamist pressure. His attorney, Javed Sahotra, said that a two-judge division bench of the Lahore High Court on Oct. 26 acquitted Gill on grounds of insufficient evidence and ordered his release. “My client is facing serious security risks,” Sahotra told Morning Star News. “We intentionally kept the news secret to avoid putting his and our lives at risk. Gill is very happy after being released from prison on Nov. 13, but he cannot return to his normal life.” Gill, member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Pakpattan, spent nine years, 10 months and 15 days in prison on the false charge, Sahotra said. “The ...

The parents of 4 children said they are “so relieved to finally be free” and are happy to be reunited with their children after a very difficult 8 years. A Christian couple who spent seven years on death row in Pakistan on false blasphemy charges has been granted asylum in a European country. According to human rights organization ADF International, Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel arrived in Europe this week after their death sentence was overturned by the Lahore High Court in early June. The parents of 4 children said they are “so relieved to finally be free” and are happy to be reunited with their children after a very difficult 8 years. The Christian spouses were released from prison on July 1. The country where they have been granted asylum has not been identified due to security concerns. “Although we will miss our country, we are happy to finally be somewhere safe. Hopefully, the blasphemy laws in Pakistan will soon be abolished, so others won’t suffer the same fate as Shagu...