Tag: Pakistan

Asia Bibi appeal complainant not even present at time of her alleged ‘blasphemy’

October 19, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran

Asia Bibi with Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer, who was assassinated for supporting her case. (Photo: Office of the Governor of Punjab)

Asia Bibi’s final appeal against her execution in the Supreme Court of Pakistan went on for more than two hours. Below, World Watch Monitor provides details of what was said. Asia Bibi’s appeal hearing on 8 October took place before a three-member bench – Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif . . . Read More

Pakistan: Islamic groups threaten Supreme Court judges ahead of Asia Bibi ruling

October 11, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Extremist religious groups in Pakistan have called for mass protests and threatened the judges of the country’s Supreme Court in Islamabad ahead of their ruling in the blasphemy case of Christian woman Asia Bibi. The hardline Islamic party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) threatened the judges in a press conference on YouTube, saying . . . Read More

Pakistan’s Supreme Court hears Asia Bibi’s ‘blasphemy’ appeal but delays ruling

October 8, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamabad, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Aasiya Noreen, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been on death row for over eight years for alleged blasphemy. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has finally heard the much-delayed appeal of Asia Bibi, the first Christian woman sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy law, today, 8 October, in the capital, Islamabad. It has not announced its decision, saying it will “reserve judgment” for several days or possibly weeks. Aasiya Noreen, commonly . . . Read More

‘Eliminate’ blasphemy laws, says US commission chief on International Blasphemy Day

October 1, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Ahmed Shaheed, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia, UN, USA

In some countries blasphemy is a very sensitive topic and often leads to riots and violence, like in Islamabad, Pakistan, in November 2017.(Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Blasphemy laws are “dangerous” and should be “eliminated”, the chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) told Newsweek yesterday on International Blasphemy Day. The freedom to criticise or mock religion should not be decided by governments and their interpretation of laws, said Dr. Tenzin Dorjee. And it . . . Read More

Suspected accomplice in Pakistan church bombings acquitted

October 1, 2018 Pakistan All Saints Church, Pakistan, Peshawar, Police, Terrorism

A Pakistani court has acquitted a suspected accomplice in two suicide bombings that targeted a church in Peshawar five years ago. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up as worshippers were leaving the Sunday service at All Saints’ Memorial Church on 22 September 2013. The bombings killed more than 80 people . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian family flees after home set on fire, told they’ll be killed if they return

September 28, 2018 Pakistan Gujar Khan, Minorities, Pakistan, Rawalpindi

The only Christian family in their area were beaten and saw their house set on fire last week in a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Then they were told they will be killed if they return. The family – an elderly couple with their four sons, daughters-in-law and 11 grandchildren . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians fear more violence if they press charges over attack

September 26, 2018 Pakistan Catholics, Kasur, Minorities, Pakistan, Police

A land dispute between Christian and Muslim villagers in rural Pakistan ended with a mob attack on the Christian community, but no charges against the attackers. A 10-year-old boy’s arm was broken and two women were beaten and had their clothes torn when a mob of at least men and . . . Read More

‘Not all incidents are religiously motivated’ – Pakistan professor

September 17, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan

Sabir Michael (YouTube / Academy for Cultural Diplomacy)

A Pakistani professor has warned that some social media activists and religious leaders are falsely portraying incidents as religiously motivated to stoke intolerance, reports UCAN. Sabir Michael, assistant professor at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology in Karachi, cited three recent incidents that he said were reported . . . Read More

Family of murdered Pakistani Christian MP open training centre for women

September 13, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Education, Pakistan, Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Women

The memorial to Shahbaz Bhatti, which marks the location of his assassination. Islamabad, Pakistan.

The family of the murdered Catholic MP Shahbaz Bhatti is opening an education centre for Christian women and girls in Khushpur, eastern Pakistan, reports AsiaNews Khushpur, near Faisalabad in Punjab province, is the largest Christian settlement in Pakistan and the area where the former minister for minorities came from and . . . Read More

EU should ‘put people of the world’ first in quest for religious freedom – report

September 6, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-conversion law, Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Europe, India, Jan Figel, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom

Members of the European Parliament (EP) have called on the EU to “put the people of the world before our financial and political interests”, in a report about religious freedom. The Annual Report on Freedom of Religion or Belief 2017, presented by the EP Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or . . . Read More

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