Lahore (AsiaNews) Anwar Masih, 32, from Lahore (Punjab) was arrested for blasphemy offences on November 28, 2003. He was charged under section 295 and 295-A of Pakistan's Penal Code. On December 17, 2004, Lahore's Judicial Magistrate Court in Lahore acquitted him on all counts.
Things should have ended there; however, Mr Masih (see photo) has had to go into hiding, keeping well clear of his family, threatened by fanatics and extremists from Markaz-e-Tayyabba Islamic Seminary.
Section 295 of the Penal, which Code covers offences or profanation of places of worship, punishes "[w]hoever destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage or defilement as an insult to their religion . . ."
Section 295A punishes "[w]hoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of the citizens of Pakistan, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations insults the religion or the religious beliefs of that class . . ."
Anwar Masih's lawyer, Justin Gill, of the Centre for Legal Aid and Assistance Settlement (CLASS) in Lahore, told AsiaNews, that his client was accused of blasphemy for insulting the prophet and disrespecting the beard of the plaintiff, Naseer Ahmad, a Christian who converted to Islam.
However, for many the case stems from an old enmity between the two men. When Mr Ahmad was still a Christian, he was accused of beating up a neighbour so badly that the latter went into coma and to this day remains paralysed and under constant medical care. Mr Anwar had supported the victim in registering a complaint against Mr Ahmad.
Pakistani authorities have acknowledged that the Blasphemy Law is very often used to settle personal scores or carry out vendettas. Numbers attest to the abnormal situationbetween 1927 and 1986 there have seven recorded cases; after 1986, about 4,000.
So far Mr Anwar has been lucky, not so others. In 2004 at least three Christians were murdered for their faith. Nasir Masih and Samuel Masih are known to have been tortured to death in police custody; Javed Anjum was tortured and killed by students and teachers at a madrassa, a Muslim school.Faced with mounting criticism, the Pakistani government amended the Blasphemy Law last yearthe changes were approved by parliament on October 26, 2004. The law now requires the police to investigate allegations of blasphemy before criminal charges are filed.
Human rights groups and Christian leaders, both Catholic and Protestant, have called the changes simple window-dressing, tinkering with procedures and not with the substance of the matter, namely the law itself.
