PAKISTAN:CRISTIANO BLASFEMO,CORTE SUPREMA ANNULLA ESECUZIONE

LIBERATO DOPO 4 ANNI AYUB MASIH, PER CUI SI UCCISE VESCOVO

ROMA, 16 AGO - La Corte suprema pachistana ha annullato la sentenza di morte dei confronti di un cristianoaccusato di blasfemia, ordinando il suo immediato rilascio. Ne da' notizia oggi la Bbc News online.

Ayub Masih venne accusato nel 1998, ''per aver offeso il profeta Maometto'' in pubblico, da alcuni vicini che intendevano cosi' risolvere una annosa disputa sulla proprieta' di alcuni terreni. La legge invocata era quella sulla blasfemia, promulgata sotto il regime militare del generale Zia Ul-Haq.

Dieci giorni dopo la condanna a morte il vescovo cattolico di Faisalabad, John Joseph di 62 anni, si uccise con un colpo di pistola alla tempia davanti al tribunale di Shaiwal, che aveva emesso la pena capitale contro Masih. Il vescovo voleva protestare contro la sentenza ma anche invocare l'unione di cristiani e musulmani.

   Gruppi umanitari pachistani hanno accolto con soddisfazione il provvedimento della Corte suprema e hanno chiesto l'abrogazione delle leggi sulla blasfemia. Il governo pachistano e' tuttavia sotto la pressione di estremisti islamici, che usano l'accusa di blasfemia - aveva rilevato nel 1998 l'avvocatessa Asma Jehangir, presidente della Commissione diritti umani - ''contro i musulmani onesti onesti e contro le minoranze''.

Ci sono stati diversi altri casi simili a quello di Masih: il piu' eclatante colpi' due pachistani dallo stesso cognome, un giovane quattordicenne, Salamat Masih e lo zio Rehmat Masih, condannati a morte nel 1994, poi assolti nel 1996 perche' era risultato evidente che le accuse scaturivano da litigi di paese.

Ma nel frattempo, nel 1995, un infermiere cristiano di mezza eta' era morto ''per collasso'' (versione della polizia) durante un interrogatorio in un commissariato in relazione a un caso di blasfemia. 

16-AGO-02 

Pakistan Court Orders Christian Freed

By MUNIR AHMAD, 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  - Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered authorities Thursday to release immediately a Christian sentenced to death in 1998 for blasphemy, the state-run news agency said.

 Defense attorney Abid Minto told the court Thursday that his client, Ayub Masih, had never made the allegedly blasphemous statements, but instead was a victim of a plot to steal his land, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The court agreed and ordered Masih released.

 Masih was arrested in Punjab province in 1996 after a neighbor complained that he made statements supporting British writer Salman Rushdie, who was condemned to death by Iranian leaders because his novel "The Satanic Verses" was considered blasphemous to Islam.

 Masih was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to death, a decision that sparked nationwide protests by minority Christian groups and human rights organizations. Nevertheless, lower appeals courts upheld the conviction.

 Minto produced evidence that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off of their land and then acquired the deed to it through a housing program, the agency reported.

 Under Pakistani Islamic law, only the word of a Muslim accuser is needed to prosecute a non-Muslim on blasphemy charges, which can carry the death penalty upon conviction.

 About 97 percent of Pakistan's 145 million people are Muslim, according to government figures. Christians are said to constitute a small portion of the remaining 3 percent, though Christian leaders insist that they are at least 6 percent of the total population.

PAKISTAN:

* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International *

16 August 2002

Amnesty International welcomes the Supreme Court's decision today to acquit Ayub Masih who was convicted of blasphemy and under sentence of death. The organization appeals to the authorities to take urgent measures to ensure his safety upon release.

 Ayub Masih was imprisoned in 1996 for allegedly speaking against Islam. However Amnesty International believes that the real motive for bringing the blasphemy charge was a land dispute in his village. Ayub Masih has on several occasions been ill-treated in custody.

 "Pakistan's blasphemy law is frequently misused. The law has frequently been abused to imprison people on grounds of religious enmity but also has proved an easy tool to have people imprisoned when the real motives are business rivalry or land issues," Amnesty International said.

 President Pervez Musharraf said in April 2000 that procedural changes would be introduced to lessen the possibility of abuse of the blasphemy law. However the amendment was withdrawn in May on the grounds that the ulema [Islamic scholars] and the people had 'unanimously' demanded it.

 The law, which carries the mandatory death penalty for anyone found guilty of blasphemy, contributes to a climate in which religiously motivated violence flourishes. Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Pakistani government to amend or abolish the law and prevent abuse.

 In June another prisoner of conscience sentenced to death for blasphemy, Yousuf Ali, was killed by fellow prison inmates in a Lahore jail. Amnesty International believes that the killing could not have been carried out without the tacit approval of prison staff and wrote to President Musharraf to take urgent measures to ensure the safety of anyone imprisoned on blasphemy charges.

 Background

 The Christian Ayub Masih (30) in village Chak 353/E.B, Arifwala, Sahiwal district, Punjab province was sentenced to death on 27 April 1998 on charges of blasphemy under section 295C PPC by a court in Sahiwal. On 14 October 1996, Ayub Masih was arrested following allegations made by a Muslim that he felt offended when Ayub Masih told him that Christianity was 'right' and that he should read British author Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses' and that they had scuffled after this alleged exchange.

 The Catholic Bishop of Faisalabad, Bishop John Joseph, pointed out that the allegations appeared to be motivated by a dispute over property between Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the village. Ayub Masih's family had applied for land under a government program allotting land to landless people for housing purposes. The local zamindar [landlord] and other local residents apparently resented this prospect as Christian families had been living on land provided by the landowners in exchange for labour, which considerably benefited the landowners. Several families were forcibly evicted and several Christians beaten by villagers following the filing of the complaint against Ayub Masih. Bishop John Joseph committed suicide in May 1998 in protest against the imposition of the death sentence on Ayub Masih; the death sentence was followed by non-violent country-wide protests of Christian communities.

 The defence lawyer for Ayub Masih has pointed out that the case against Ayub Masih rests on the verbal testimony of the complainant without any further corroborating evidence. An appeal against the death sentence was admitted in May 1998 by the Lahore High Court. An application for an early hearing of the appeal was filed on 12 December 1999; the appeal was heard in the Lahore High Court 3 years after Ayub Masih's conviction leading to a confirmation of the conviction and death sentence on 25 July 2001. In January 1999 Ayub Masih was reportedly attacked in Multan Jail and injured by four other people sentenced to death but no action appears to have been taken against his assailants. According to reports his health has significantly deteriorated since his arrest and prison authorities did not provide sufficient medical care.