Christian man death sentence affirmed by Pakistan court after blasphemy allegations

A court in Pakistan handed a death sentence to a Christian man and the two men he reported for extortion and blackmail over charges of blasphemy.

Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala Judge Bushra Zaman issued the capital punishment Monday, June 27 to 65-year-old Anjum Naz Sindhu and his accusers Javed Naz and Jaffar Ali over the blasphemy case. The court found Sindhu guilty and fined him 500,000 rupees (US$4,730) while the court condemned Naz, a Christian, for concealing the alleged blasphemy. Naz and his Muslim friend, Ali, received an extra 35-year imprisonment and 800,000 rupees (US$7,570) fine for their extortion.

It all started when the two men accused Sindhu, a Catholic school owner in Gujranwala, of committing blasphemy during last year's speech at Locus Science School. According to a First Information Report (FIR), Naz kept a record of the alleged blasphemy on his mobile phone. Naz and Ali then extorted 20,000 rupees (US$190) from Sindhu on May 15 last year and then demanded more with 50,000 (US$475) rupees. That's when Sindhu went to the police, upon the advice of friends and religious elders, and filed a complaint against the two for blackmail.

"He took the extortion matter to the police because he was innocent and was not ready to be blackmailed any further for something he hadn't done," a source who spoke in anonymity told Morning Star News.

"He succumbed to the pressure of the blackmailers because of the fear of death for himself and his family members that comes with the charge of blasphemy in a country where one doesn't really have to prove the accusation," the source added.

Sindhu's brother, Asif, revealed that Naz worked at one of the schools owned by his brother and suspected that Naz's charges may just be an act of retribution because his brother fired Naz from the school after leaking examination papers.

"They uttered blasphemous words in my brother's voice to get revenge for taking action against Javed Naz and later started demanding extortion," he said.

An Egyptian lawyer and former parliamentarian, Ehab Ramzy, also said that the blasphemy law is like a "sword to be used against certain people."

"If you want to get rid of your neighbor, you find a way to accuse them of blasphemy, using an ordinary insult as evidence," Ramzy said.