Christian Couple Burned Alive by Mob in Pakistan After Alleged Desecration of Koran

CNN reports that a Christian couple in Pakistan were surrounded by a mob, beaten, and then thrown alive into a nearby kiln to die.  The mob formed after rumors spread that the couple had desecrated the Koran, which led to announcements through mosque loudspeakers.  No evidence has been found that a Koran was desecrated.  Police have arrested 40 in connection with the murders.

Professor of Islamic Studies Assassinated Over Blasphemy Allegations in Pakistan

In the continuation of a long-going trend in Pakistan, assassins have murdered an individual accused of blasphemy.  Last month, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Muhammad Shakil Auj, Dean of Islamic Studies at a university in Karachi, was murdered by unidentified gunmen.  Auj was known as moderate in his views, and had previously reported being accused of blasphemy by co-workers.

Ahmadis, Vigilante Justice, and Blasphemy in Pakistan

On May 16th of this year, Religion Clause Blog had a post that provides yet another example of vigilante justice and the problems faced by the minority Ahmadi faith in Pakistan.  After some Ahamadis asked a shopkeeper to remove a sticker that they felt was offensive to their religion, the shopkeeper had them arrested for blasphemy.  A teenage boy then entered the police station and shot one of them dead.

Death Sentence for "Blasphemous" Christian Couple in Pakistan

Pakistan continues to be a hotbed of blasphemy prosecutions.  A few weeks ago, Religion Clause Blog posted about a Christian couple charged with sending blasphemous text messages.  The couple were convicted and sentenced to death, even though they asserted that the phone the texts were sent from had been missing for a month and that the texts were written in a language they could not speak or write.  An appeal is planned.

Recent Blasphemy Stories

A few stories involving blasphemy have caught my eye over the past month.

*  Religion Clause Blog has a story about a British citizen of Pakistani origin named Muhammad Asghar who has been convicted and sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy.  The man wrote letters to several people, including police, claiming to be a prophet.  The man has a history of mental illness.  According to the report, Pakistan has a de facto moratorium on the death penalty and so an actual execution is unlikely (his conviction is also the subject of an appeal).

* Volokh Conspiracy discusses a story from The Guardian about a Greek man who has been convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 10 months in prison for comparing a revered priest to a pasta dish on a Facebook page.  The conviction is also under appeal.

*  A very interesting article in The New York Times about Penguin Books India pulping its entire run of a scholarly book about Hinduism in response to a lawsuit claiming the book was "malicious", "dirty", and "perverse."  The decision is seen as a sign of concession to growing right-wing radicalism in the country.

Pakistani Christian Charged with Blasphemy, Christian Homes Burned

This news is a few weeks old, but I thought it worth including in the archives.  On March 10th, Religion Clause Blog reported that after a Christian was charged with blasphemy in Pakistan, more than 100 homes of other Christians were burned by demonstrators.  The defendant, Sawan Masih, denies the charges and says they originate from an argument he got into with two men while drinking.  Pakistan's President has ordered compensation to the homeowners affected and has stated he will consult on how to implement the blasphemy law fairly.

Blasphemy Charges Dropped Against Christian Girl in Pakistan Accused of Burning the Qur'an

Religion Clause Blog has a post about an Islamabad court dropping the blasphemy charges against Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl accused of burning the Qur'an.  The story became a high-profile one, made more dramatic by accusations that a Muslim cleric attempted to frame the girl.

Relevant Posts on Religion Clause Blog

It's been a busy couple of weeks and I haven't managed to update this blog, but here's some links to some very interesting posts on blasphemy and secularism on Howard Friedman's always-excellent Religion Clause Blog:

*  Atheist parents in Ontario have a hearing before the province's Human Rights Tribunal on a claim of religious discrimination.  The parents were refused permission by a school to distribute a book on free-thought to 5th grade students in the same way that Gideon Bibles are distributed (here).

*  In Russia, Orthodox Christian activists vandalized Moscow's Erotic Art Museum (here).

* French tourists were convicted and given suspended sentences under a Sri Lankan law prohibiting insults to religion.  The tourists had taken photos of themselves pretending to kiss Buddha statutes (here).

* Pakistan arrested an illiterate Christian girl for blasphemy, but the country's Prime Minister called for caution in applying the laws and for a full investigation of the incident.  Accounts differ, but according to some reports the girl is 11 or 12 years old, may suffer from Down's Syndrome, and inadvertently burned some pages of the Qur'an along with some other papers (here).

Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Alleged Blasphemy

CNN reports that Pakistan has blocked domestic access to Twitter in a dispute over links and references on the social networking service to a Facebook page that hosted a contest to post images of Muhammad.  Pakistan reportedly asked the operators of Twitter to remove those links and references, and when it failed to comply, the block was enacted.  A Pakistani government agency in charge of telecommunications is to meet next week to determine whether the block should continue or be lifted.

"The Curious Persistence of Blasphemy" Now Published

My article "The Curious Persistence of Blasphemy" has now been published by the Florida Journal of International Law.

"Unholy Speech and Holy Laws: Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan--Controversial Origins, Design Defects, and Free Speech Implications"

Osama Siddique & Zahra Hayat, Unholy Speech and Holy Laws: Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan--Controversial Origins, Design Defects, and Free Speech Implications, 17 Minn. J. Int'l L. 303 (2008).

This long, thorough article examines the history of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, focussing primarily on the new offences created under the regime of dictator Genera Zia-ul-Haq which continue to have baneful effects on religious freedom in the country. The sense one gets reading Siddique's and Hayat's article is that (1) blasphemy laws are applied in a harsh and discriminatory manner by Pakistan's trial courts, which are composed of judges who are poorly-educated, biased, and unable to withstand community pressures; (2) trial-level blasphemy convictions are almost always reversed or upheld but with a more lenient sentence by appellate courts; and (3) perhaps the greatest risk of being accused of blasphemy is not what happens in court, but what happens out of it, as vigilante beatings and murders of alleged blasphemers (and those who attempt to reform the law) are commonplace. The article states that "the blasphemy laws, in their current form, are an instance of legislation inherently open to abuse, operating in an environment that is at times unfortunately conducive to that abuse." (p. 206) An interesting discussion of the Islamization of Pakistan places the blasphemy laws in context, while an analysis of conceptually-similar laws in other countries prompts an analysis of whether Pakistan's laws could be justified as a variation on hate speech.

Vigilante Murder of Exonerated "Blasphemer" in Pakistan

Yesterday, CNN published the tragic but (from what I've read elsewhere) not unusual story of Mohamed Imran, a man accused of blasphemy who was murdered by vigilantes even after being cleared by the legal system.

Another Pakistani Official Assassinated Over Blasphemy

Pakistan's Minister of Minority Affairs, Shabaz Bhatti, was assassinated on Wednesday. The Taliban claimed responsibility and stated that the murder was prompted by Bhatti's support for moderating the country's laws against blasphemy. See Religion Clause Blog and CNN for more.

Death Sentence Handed Down for Pakistani Blasphemer

A court in Pakistan's Punjab province has handed down a death sentence for a man accused of having blasphemed against the companions of the Prophet Muhammad. See Religion Clause Blog for more.

"Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan"

David F. Forte, Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan, 10 Conn. J. Int'l L. 27 (1994).

Forte's article begins with an excellent background into the political and constitutional history of Pakistan in the twentieth century which makes it clear just how integral Islam is to the legal apparatus of the government. Forte then moves on to explain the relationship between apostasy and blasphemy in Pakistan, noting that "blasphemy serves as a surrogate [for the crime of apostasy] in suppressing those who dissent from Islam by word or deed." (p. 49) Finally, the article discusses at length the problem of private violence and vigilante "justice" against alleged blasphemers, the results of which are often sudden, shocking, and cruel. Although this article is now over fifteen years old, it doesn't seem at all dated, as the problems of blasphemy law in Pakistan remain very real.

Pakistani Lawyers Support Strict Blasphemy Laws

Tuesday's New York Times carries an interesting article on how the "Zia generation" of lawyers in Pakistan strongly support a robust application of the country's blasphemy laws. Despite being relatively well-educated "elites", the lawyers are allied with Pakistan's religious conservatives on the issue.

Blasphemy Reforms in Pakistan Stall, Supporter Assassinated

Political pressure and threatened labor strikes have succeeded in preventing planned reforms to Pakistan's blasphemy law from being introduced. The country's Federal Minister for Labor and Religious Affairs stated that the government would not press for any amendments. See Religion Clause Blog for more.

In related news, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards on Tuesday. The motive for the murder was the governor's support for reforming the blasphemy law and pardoning a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who faces the death penalty for allegedly insulting Muhammed. See USA Today for more.

Protests in Pakistan Over Bill to Remove Blasphemy as a Capital Crime

Howard Friedman's Religion Clause Blog has a short post on major protests in Pakistan over a bill that would remove blasphemy from the country's list of capital offenses. See also this recent post.

Pakistani Court Halts Blasphemy Law Reforms

Religion Clause Blog has a post about a temporary injunction issued recently by a Pakistani court that blocked recent reforms of the country's blasphemy legislation under the principle that Parliament lacks authority to amend laws relating to religion.

"The Curious Persistence of Blasphemy"

A draft of my new article The Curious Persistence of Blasphemy is available for free download on SSRN here.

Abstract:

Despite expectations to the contrary, blasphemy laws and their modern-day counterparts persist in a surprising number of jurisdictions around the globe. This article discusses four examples: the "defamation of religion" movement at the United Nations, the surprising resurrection of blasphemy law in Ireland, the Australian trend toward enacting "religious vilification" laws, and the problem of formal illegality and private violence for blasphemous speech in Pakistan. Next, blasphemy is considered from three conceptual angles: the religious, the legal, and the secular/cultural. Last, the curious persistence of blasphemy is examined through an inquiry into why people blaspheme to begin with, and what harms (real or perceived) are caused by blasphemy. The conclusion here is that as long as societies hold something sacred--religiously or culturally--blasphemy will remain an operative concept and legal or social pressure to suppress blasphemous statements will continue to persist.