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Afghanistan/South Asia
Blasphemy suspect not safe in police custody
2004-05-26
LAHORE: Samuel, a blasphemy suspect, is in critical condition at General Hospital after a police constable hit him on his head with a brick cutter, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday.
Ouch! Cheeze! Just reading the words give me a headache...
Constable Faryad, who attacked Samuel in the morning on May 22, was sent to jail after a case was registered against him. “Faryad was roused to attack Samuel at the call of his conscience. He appeared calm after trying to kill Samuel but realized he had done something ugly the next day,” a police officer told a fact-finding team from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
Oh. Well. In that case just let him go. He won't do it again, right? At least not to the same guy? Until he's healed up?
Although the case has been brought into the open, the authorities are still trying to keep the whole matter a secret. The Punjab Home Department has banned visitors to the hospital’s ward No 18, where Samuel is being treated. The HRCP team led by Mahbood Ahmed Khan visited the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. The team described the case as horrific, lacking education, awareness, sensibility and understanding and the result of a clear misuse of the blasphemy law.
Best to just kill him, though, just to be on the safe side...
Samuel alias Nadeem, the son of a man named Emanuel from Saidan Shah near Upper Mall Lahore, was charged with blasphemy under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The names appear to be Christian, don't they?
Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqoob, librarian of the Darul Islam Lawrence Garden, Lahore, registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Samuel, accusing him of throwing waste by the wall of a mosque of near the library.
Emptied his chamber pot too close to the mosque did he?
Although, Civil Lines police told non-government organisations perusing Samuel’s case that he was released, he was sent to Kot Lakhapt Jail for trial. Samuel’s family disowns him. He is a neglected youth because of his addiction, being a tuberculosis patient and having a bad temper, family sources said. Samuel’s family neither pursued the blasphemy case against him, nor did they come to enquire about him after the attempt on his life.
Posted by:Fred

#8  Does anybody know enough about the Pakistani blasphemy code to know whether cursing God is as big an offence as cursing Muhammed?
Posted by: James   2004-05-26 7:00:42 PM  

#7   The expelled students are condemned, based on unsubstantiated charges brought by the homosexual accuser.

And a big helloooo from Salem.

Truth wins every time. I hope that's what you think, too.

Just like there is no substitute for quality, I've not seen any sort of acceptable alternative to truth.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-05-26 3:09:55 PM  

#6  Zenster says (#5) " Seeing the words "blasphemy" and "Penal Code" appear in the same sentence together is utterly disgusting. Any country that has this sort of legal tripe needs to be put on the hit list."

Right Zenster, but I'm sure you are aware that the same thing goes on here. At many unversities, homosexuals can have other students expelled for "looking at them funny," which is "classified" as "hate speech" by the "Politically Correct" crowd--according to rules codified by the university adminstrations. The expelled students are condemned, based on unsubstantiated charges brought by the homosexual accuser.

See, Zenster, it's not really about the "R" word. Because religiosity comes in all shapes and sizes.
Truth , however, trumps mere "religiosity"--whether that religiosity hides behind a Taliban turban, secularism "at any price," deconstructionist homosexual/lesbian militancy, political "correctness," KKK idiocy, fascist fundamentalism, or undies with nasty anti-Bush one-liners. Truth wins every time.

I hope that's what you think, too.
Posted by: ex-lib   2004-05-26 2:58:06 PM  

#5  ... charged with blasphemy under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code ...

Seeing the words "blasphemy" and "Penal Code" appear in the same sentence together is utterly disgusting. Any country that has this sort of legal tripe needs to be put on the hit list.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-05-26 2:23:52 PM  

#4  What is this about the "Softer Side of Pakistan" elswhere on RB today?

I don't think brick cutters are very soft.

But, Allah akhbar, and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. . . .
Posted by: BigEd   2004-05-26 1:16:38 PM  

#3  Actually, rereading the article I think that the tubercular Samuel may just have spit blood near the wall of the mosque near the library, an upgraded version of spitting on the sidewalk. It's OK to bleed on a mosque, just don't spit blood near it.
Posted by: RWV   2004-05-26 1:00:14 PM  

#2  There's something to be said for these blasphemy laws. I would have liked to use a brick cutter on the Palestinian "freedom fighters" who defecated in the Church of the Nativity and hitting them in the head wasn't what I had in mind.
Posted by: RWV   2004-05-26 12:57:39 PM  

#1  Although the case has been brought into the open, the authorities are still trying to keep the whole matter a secret.

Non-stop, hourly updates will begin...
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-05-26 12:56:19 PM  

00:00