PAKISTAN: A man was burned alive in the custody of the police while held on the charge of blasphemy 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was burned alive by an enraged mob while he was in the custody of the police, held on the charge of blasphemy. The man was taken into the custody of the police and was kept in a police station overnight. The police were not able to get information from the accused person and even failed to know his name or identity. Police say that they were unable to control the mob but the human rights activists are saying that the police have a hand in burning the accused man alive.

Police have cordoned off the village and no one is allowed to enter or leave the village. Villagers are holding their protests against police atrocities inside. A session court has released all the police officers and others who were arrested and suspended on the orders of the local administration.

CASE NARRATIVE:

The following information was collected by human rights defenders, including the coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s core group, in Dadu district, Sindh province.

Late at night on 21 December 2012, one person entered a mosque, the Memon Masjid, in Sita village of Dadu district, Sindh province, and was arrested at 3 AM because of a complaint by a night watchman that he had burned the pages of the Quran, the holiest book in Islam. The chief of the mosque (Pesh Imam), with the help of some people, handed the man over to a local police station, the Raje Dero, and the Station House Office (SHO) himself took him into custody. According to the police, they tried to get his personal information from him but the accused person kept himself tight lipped. The police left, saying that the man was mentally ill and that they would get information in the next morning.

The next morning, information about burning pages from the Quran was spread in Sita village and other surrounding villages. Suddenly, more than 500 persons surrounded the police station and demanded that they hand over the alleged blasphemer so that the mob could give him exemplary punishment. The police were reluctant to resist the mob, which gave an advantage to the mob; they jumped into the third floor of the police station, going up the walls using ladders, and dragged out the accused blasphemer. The enraged mob first beat him on the third floor, where it was said that he was almost dead, and the police remained silent. Then a section of the mob threw him from the third floor and he was dragged on the road. Suddenly, some people brought kerosene oil and set fire to some grass and banana leaves, and then threw the person into the fire. He died immediately in the fire. Some people started filming the incident and the mob started dancing and shouting slogans that God is great.

The eye witnesses and teams from human rights organizations and media reported that there were no signs of breaking the locks and gate of the police station lockup. It was as if the locks were opened with the keys by the policemen stationed at the lockup. They claim that the police were also involved in burning the accused man alive. The district police officer (DPO), the highest police officer in the district, told a team of human rights activists that the police officers are responsible for the mob attack and burning the man alive. He said that this was a case of police negligence and inability to control the mob.

After the incident, seven police officials, including Station House Office (SHO), and 35 other persons, were arrested but all were released on bail within one week by a judge of the session court, Dadu district. The judge did not waste a single minute before granting bail on personal surety.

Police have cordoned off the whole of Sita village and are not allowing any person to enter or exit. The villagers have problems relating to the lack of food and water, and also of going to their jobs. They are conducting protests inside the village and have on many occasions contacted the ministers and members of parliament, asking them to save them from the atrocities of the police. But members of parliament are scared of the fundamentalist groups; if they interfere, the groups will take revenge and they will lose the next elections.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Blasphemy in Pakistan is illegal and punishable by death, but the law does not clearly define what constitutes an act of blasphemy. Rights groups have condemned Pakistan’s blasphemy laws on numerous occasions and are pushing to have the law amended. However, the government has been reluctant to change the law for fear of igniting anger among the country’s prominent religious parties.

The legislation made headlines earlier this year when a 14-year-old Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, was accused of blasphemy after charred pages of an exercise book quoting the Quran were found in her belongings. Masih was released after a neighbor told the police that she was framed, becoming the first person in Pakistani history to be granted bail in a blasphemy case.

Since 1988, about 1,000 cases of desecration of the Quran have been reported to the Pakistani police, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reported. The majority of those implicated are Christians, who are often the target of blasphemy cases. So far, 12 Pakistani Christians have been given the death penalty for blaspheming against Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the following authorities calling them to conduct a judicial inquiry in the case of burning an alleged blasphemer alive in the custody of police. The police officials who were released on wrongful court processes should be arrested again so that they cannot influence the witnesses. The cordoning off of Sita village by the police must be lifted immediately. The identity of the burned person should be disclosed and they should allow his family members to visit the grave of the deceased.

Please urge the authorities to withdraw the blasphemy laws so that innocent persons are protected from the fundamentalist groups.

The AHRC writes a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief calling for their intervention into this matter.

 

 

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