Search Results for: pakistan blasphemy

In this piece Chris Blackburn, Communications Director of the European Bangladesh Forum and co-founder of Global Friends of Afghanistan, highlights the severe human rights abuses in Pakistan, including the misuse of blasphemy laws and the repression of political movements and activists, and calls for international actions such as Pakistan’s suspension from the Commonwealth to pressure [...]

Last Thursday, October 17, the 142nd session of the UN Human Rights Committee was held in Geneva, to review the human rights record of Pakistan. A handful of students at the Geneva Academy, including myself, had the opportunity to attend the event at the invitation of our professor of human rights law, Hélène Tigroudja, one [...]

The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) is set to review Pakistan’s human rights record this Thursday and Friday under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). According to Amnesty International (AI), the review “comes at a crucial time for the country, as human rights violations and abuses remain rampant.” The review is part of Pakistan’s commitments [...]

The writer of this JURIST dispatch from Pakistan has asked that their name be withheld due to circumstances within the country.  On Thursday last week, a blasphemy suspect was shot dead while in police custody in Quetta, a southwestern city in Pakistan, after a policeman opened fire on him inside the police station where he [...]

Pakistan’s police on Monday announced the arrest of the deputy leader of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party, Zaheerul Hassan Shah, for placing a bounty against Chief Justice of the Pakistan Qazi Faez Esa, according to local media. Hassan Shah placed the 10-million rupee bounty against Esa because of the Chief Justice’s alleged support of the minority [...]

Pakistani authorities initiated a rigorous investigation to identify and arrest members of a mob that killed a tourist accused of blasphemy in the Swat district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to local media on Friday. Regional Police Chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur confirmed that a case has been registered against the organizers of the mob [...]

A Pakistani Christian who was attacked by a mob last month after being accused of blasphemy has succumbed to his injuries, local media reported Monday. Nazir Masih, 72, sustained severe head injuries during the May 25 attack and underwent two surgeries before his death. He was buried in Sargodha, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province.  [...]

Law students and law graduates in Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. Abu Bakar Khan is a final year law student at University Law College, University of the Punjab. He files this dispatch from Lahore.  Lahore hosted the 5th Asma Jahangir Conference, titled ‘People’s Mandate: Safeguarding Civil [...]

The Associated Press (AP) reported that a Pakistani court sentenced a 22-year-old student to death and gave a teenager life in prison on Monday under the country’s blasphemy laws. The 22-year-old student’s lawyer, Aslam Gujar, told the AP that Junaid Munir had been sentenced to death last week. The charges come as a result of [...]

Pakistan rejected Monday its designation as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the United States State Department over religious freedom concerns in the South Asian country. The US State Department designated Pakistan as a CPC on January 4 following a recommendation from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The Pakistan Ministry of [...]