Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that four members of a Christian family were severely beaten by the police after their arrest on false charges of blasphemy. Police reportedly tortured them over a two-day period to try to extract forced confessions, releasing them only after being paid a substantial bribe. The family home was also ransacked by a mob, allegedly led by members of a banned Islamic organization, yet no arrests have been made for the crime. The family has been forced to flee the area.
CASE DETAILS:
According to information collected from the victims and various NGO and media sources the house of 65-year-old Mr. Lawrence was attacked by a crowd of around 300 persons armed with stones and wooden sticks at around midnight on September 11. Mr Lawrence is a barber and lives in a Christian Colony in Ghaziabad.
Eyewitnesses report that the attack was led by Muslim leaders from Sipah-e-Sahaba, an Islamic organization banned by the Pakistani government for its militant, sectarian nature. The mob leaders accused Mr. Lawrence of desecrating the Holy Quran.
Their charges were related to an incident two nights before, when the man had relieved himself on his rooftop. Splashes of urine had reportedly somehow made their way considerably distance into an adjacent neighbour’s room and made contact with a Quran and other religious papers. These allegations were taken by the Muslim neighbour, Mr. Zubair Bihari, to mosque leaders, and a meeting was called. At the meeting it was confirmed that the allegations were impossible, yet Mr. Lawrence apologized nonetheless. He agreed to pay Kuffara a kind of religious compensation.
However the mob violence followed and when the police arrived they chose to beat and arrest Mr Lawrence’s nephew, Mr. Shakeel and his brother Mr. Johnson, while asking for the whereabouts of Mr Lawrence. The men were allegedly forced into the police van on the order of the station house officer (SHO) of Pakistan Bazar Ghaziabad police station and were taken to the house of Lawrence’s son in law, Mr. Suleman, where the police arrested him and his younger brother.
All four were taken to the police station where they were severely beaten on the orders of the SHO. They were told to reveal the whereabouts of Mr. Lawrence and to confess to desecrating the Quran, and were forced to take the police to different places in search of the elderly man, who was finally found and arrested.
We are informed that while the four men have been released after paying Rs 50,000 in bribe money, Mr. Lawrence was detained in a small room near the police station in inhumane conditions. He was only released after the town mayor (Nazim) and office bearers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM, a ruling partner of the Zardari government) managed to arrange it with the help of high police officials. They all maintain that there was no incident of blasphemy.
Mr. Lawrence has fled the city with his family but other Christians from the area remain extremely concerned about their own security, and are worried that unless the instigators of the attack are brought before the law, further violence against Christians could occur again soon.
Targeted attacks against religious minorities continue to be brought to the attention of the AHRC, with much of the brutality carried out by police officers. Yet the government of Pakistan continues to avoid taking effective action to better protect these minorities. Radical religious groups still enjoy the protection of the police and are rarely taken before the law. The government is urged to respect its citizens rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion which are legally enshrined in Article 18 of the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Pakistan is a signatory.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the concerned authorities urging them to make sincere and effective progress in the legal protection of religious minority communities in Pakistan, and the implementation of existing laws. Please call for the arrest of the officers involved in the torture of Mr. Lawrence and his family and see that appropriate compensation is arranged.
Please be aware that the AHRC is also sending a letter to the United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues, requesting intervention in this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
PAKISTAN: Police severely beat members of a Christian family after accusing a man of urinating on the Quran
Names of victims:
1. Mr. Lawrence, 65; resident of Gali No. 10, Christian Colony, Ghaziabad, Orangi No. 11 ½,
Orangi Town, Karachi, Sindh province.
2. Mr. Shakeel, 17; nephew of Lawrence; resident of Gali No. 10, Christian Colony, Ghaziabad, Orangi No. 11 ½, Orangi Town, Karachi, Sindh province.
3. Mr. Johnson; brother of Lawrence; resident of Gali No. 10, Christian Colony, Ghaziabad, Orangi No. 11 ½, Orangi Town, Karachi, Sindh province.
Names of perpetrators:
1. Mr. Fayaz, Station House Officer (SHO); Pakistan Bazar police station,
Ghaziabad, Orangi town, Karachi, Sindh province.
2. Mr. Noami, Sipah-eSahaba member; resident of Ghaziabad, Orangi No. 11 ½,
Orangi Town, Karachi, Sindh province.
3. Mr. Mohammad Asghar, Sipah-eSahaba member; resident of Ghaziabad, Orangi No. 11 ½,
Orangi Town, Karachi, Sindh province.
4. Mr. Bilal, Sipah-eSahaba member; resident of Ghaziabad, Orangi No. 11 ½, Orangi Town, Karachi, Sindh province.
Place of Incident: Christian Colony, Orangi town, Karachi, Sindh and Pakistan Bazar Ghaziabad police station.
Date of Incident: September 11, 2009.
I am writing to convey my deep shock on learning about another incident of violence and fabricated charges against Christians largely perpetrated by police officers in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest commercial and industrial city.
On September 11 a 65-year-old Christian was charged with desecrating the Quran. The charge was ludicrous it was alleged that he had urinated on the roof of his house one evening and that the urine had somehow traveled into an adjacent property and splashed a Quran the area’s religious leaders agreed that the charges were baseless, and arranged a settlement.
At around midnight on September 11, a mob of 250 to 300 persons reportedly led by three persons from Sipah-e-Sahaba gathered outside Mr. Lawrences house and attacked it with stones. The Pakistan Bazar police chose not to investigation, but to instead subject four of the man’s relatives to severe custodial beatings, so that they would confess to blasphemy charges and lead them to Mr Lawrence. This was all reportedly done under the orders of the Station Head Officers. We are told that Mr Lawrence was eventually found, and illegally detained, while the other four men paid Rs 50,000 to be released. Mr. Lawrence himself was rescued by the town mayor (Nazim) and office bearers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who managed to arrange it with the help of high police officials. They all maintain that there was no incident of blasphemy.
Targeted attacks against religious minorities continue to be brought to my attention, with much of the brutality carried out by police officers. Yet the government of Pakistan continues to avoid taking effective action to better protect these minorities. Radical religious groups still appear to enjoy the protection of the police and are rarely taken before the law.
I urge you once again to ensure that the blasphemy laws are repealed and that protection is provided for the inhabitants of the Christian colony in Ghaziabad, Karachi. Those alleged to have instigated religious violence must be investigated, and the victims of the violence and illegal detainment must be compensated. Please also ensure that appropriate legal action is taken against the SHO of Pakistan Bazar police station for the utter abuse of his position.
Yours sincerely,
——————
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani
Prime minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9221596
2. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister House
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000
E-mail: pppsindh@yahoo.com
3. Mr. Muhammad Ayaz Soomro
Minister for Law, Parliamantry Affairs & Criminal Prosecution Service
Sindh Assembly Building,
Court road, Karachi, Sindh province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9211982
E-mail: secy.law@sindh.gov.pk
4. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar, Karachi
Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
E-mail: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk
5. Ms. Nadia Gabol
Minister for Human Rights
Government of Sindh,
Pakistan secretariat, Barrack 92,
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9207044
Tel: +92 21 9207043
E-mail: lukshmil@yahoo.com
6. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9213452
E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk
7. Inspector General of Police
Sindh Province,
Police Head office, I. I. Chundrigar road
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9212051
E-mail: ppo.sindh@sindhpolice.gov.pk
——————————
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
