Dear Friends
We are forwarding the following appeal from the National Commission For Justice and Peace for your urgent action to try to stop the killing of Ayub Masih by the military government of Pakistan under the infamous Blasphemy Law 295-C. Under this law, the only evidence needed is one ‘reliable’ man’s word that the accused made derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad. In this case the one ‘reliable’ male witness has benefited enormously – financially and socially – from the conviction. This should be reason enough to throw the case out.
You may recall that Bishop John Joseph shot himself on May 6, 1998 in front of the same court where the sentence was passed as the ultimate protest against this verdict. Please do not let his sacrifice be in vain – your small action to protest against this cruel and unjust verdict is all we have. And it has been proven to work – your actions in the last appeal for clemency in a Pakistan death sentence were successful.
Further information about the Blasphemy laws in Pakistan and the sacrifice of Bishop John Joseph are available on our website at:
www.ahrchk.net/ua/blasphem.htm
Thank you
Urgent Appeals Desk
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JUSTICE AT STAKE IN CASE AGAINST AYUB MASIH
On July 25, 2001, the Multan Bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) comprising Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif and Justice Naeem Ullah Khan Sherani rejected the appeal and upheld the Death Sentence for Blasphemy awarded to Ayub Masih, a Christian. Ayub Masih of Arifwala, Distt. Sahiwal (Southern Punjab) was arrested on October 14, 1996 on the charge of ‘passing derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad’ (PBUH). He was given the (mandatory) death sentence and fined Rs. 100,000 on April 20, 1998 under the blasphemy Law 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). This case became internationally known when Bishop John Joseph, a Catholic Bishop (Faisalabad Diocese), offered self sacrifice on May 6, 1998 as protest against this verdict in the vicinity of the court at Sahiwal.
THE EXTREMIST POWER AND MUTILATION OF PROCESS OF LAW
1. The case against Ayub Masih was instituted, prosecuted and decided in absence of circumstantial evidence. The case was registered without
investigation merely on a statement of the complainant Muhammad Akram.
2. Ayub Masih pleaded not guilty and that this case was concocted and fabricated by Muhammad Akram, a Muslim, to deprive him and the 13 other Christian families in the village of their residential plots. The fact was proven that the entire Christian populace (14 families) of the village were forced to leave their home and belongings the very day the case was registered. The house belonging to Ayub’s family was allotted to the complainant by the authorities.
3. On the day of this verdict the extremists present in the vicinity of the court threatened his lawyer with dire consequences for pursuing the case. As the court reserved the verdict, they shouted that if the court released the accused, they would not spare him and his lawyers. The lawyer of Ayub Masih registered a complaint at with local Police. The people who’d gathered outside the court also tried to snatch the case files that the lawyers were holding.
4. This case has been a painful story of events aimed at aborting the process of law and justice by the religious zealots:
a) His case was first shifted from Arifwala to Sahiwal because of the fear of legal process being jeopardized by the extraneous interventions.
b) He was fired upon by the complainant himself while present in the corridors of Court at Sahiwal on November 6, 1997. The trial thereafter was held in camera as the court realised the danger – but his complaint was not lodged.
c) Ayub’s application for medical treatment in the court in April 1999 was turned down by the High Court Multan Bench. Another application for an early hearing of the case was filed on December 12, 1999.
d) In the absence of circumstantial and substantive evidence, the case deserved the hearing and quashment on merit but it remained unattended for two and a half years in High Court. Ayub Masih has now been languishing in jail for about five years. The court’s upholding the death sentence of Ayub Masih in a short trial is a denial of justice.
e) The appeal of Ayub Masih remained pending without any hearing for about two and a half years in the High Court. The case did not receive proper hearing and the case was conducted only on July 24, 2001 wherein the punishment was upheld.
f) On the day of the hearing, the Multan bench of the Lahore High Court was filled with extremists who threatened the court and the defendant’s lawyers (also reported by the newspaper, Nawa-e-Waqt Multan July 26, 2001). Advocate Sajjad Haider Zaidi pleaded the case on behalf of Ayub Masih. He lodged a formal complaint of the incident with the local police.
This is the first time since the blasphemy laws were introduced that a bench of the High Court has confirmed the Death Sentence. The history of this tells that death sentence for 295-C was awarded only by Sessions Courts. The current verdict is probably the result of extremist pressure. However the sad reminders such as the murder of Justice (R) Arif Iqbal Bhatti (October 10, 1997), who acquitted two persons accused of blaspehmy (Salamat and Rehmat), also creates a sense of fear in the Judges’ minds.
BACKGROUND
A case under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (which carries a mandatory death punishment) was brought against Ayub Masih on October 14, 1996, in Arifwala (Southern Punjab, 700 km from the Capital Islamabad). He accused Ayub Masih of using derogatory remarks against the Prophet Mohamad (PBUH) and of urging him to read the book ‘Satanic Verses’ written by Salman Rushdi.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Please write letters to show your concern over the Death Sentence awarded to Ayub Masih under the Blasphemy Law and request the authorities to:
[1] Review the death sentence of Ayub Masih in the interest of justice
[2] Make efforts for the repeal of this law.
Please write urgently to General Musharraf BY FAX AND EMAIL to plead for pardon for Mr. Ayub Masih, and also send a copy to the Interior Minister and Minister of Law. You may also write to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions to urge them to intervene.
SEND LETTERS (PREFERABLY BY FAX) TO
General Pervez Musharraf
Chief Executive of Pakistan
Aiwan-e-Sadar,
Islamabad, PAKISTAN
FAX: +92 051 920-1893/1835 or 4632
EMAIL: CE@pak.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear General Musharraf
2. Lt. Gen.(R) Moin uddine haider
The Interior Minister,
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: 92-51-9202642
Salutation: Dear Minister
3. Shahida Jamil
Minister of Law,
Pak Secretariat,
Block S, 3rd Floor,
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: 92-51-9202628
Salutation: Dear Minister
4. Diplomatic representatives of Pakistan in your
country.
SEND COPIES TO
Ms. Asma Jahangir
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
c/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: 41 22 917 9006
Email: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch
PLEASE MARK: FOR THE URGENT ATTENTION OF MS. JAHANGIR
