이슬람 신성모독에 관한 법

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아래 사진에 나오는 남자가 바로 주지사로서 무슬림이기는 하지만 기독교인들에 관대하였다는 이유로 살해된 사람입니다. 여자는 기독교인으로서 이슬람을 모독하였다는 이유로 사형위기에 처해졌던 여자입니다.

1984년 이후 이슬람 신성모독죄로 제소된 사람들의 수는 파키스탄에서만 5천명에 달하는데 그중 절반은 기독교인들입니다. 파키스탄인구의 3% 도 안되는 기독교인들이 그 법의 희생자들 가운데 50% 이상을 차지하는 것입니다.

상세한 내용은 번역하지 못하였습니다.

There is nothing Islamic about Pakistan’s blasphemy law

Published on Wednesday August 29, 2012

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Asia Bibi

The Associated Press Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned for blasphemy, with Punjab governor Salman Taseer who was later murdered.

By Haroon SiddiquiEditorial Page

29 Comments

Muslim tradition has it that in ushering in Islam 1,400 yeas ago, the Prophet Muhammad ended an era of jahiliyah, ignorance, in Arabia. He not only introduced new theology but also revolutionary social reforms — detailed codes of conduct for individual and collective behaviour. Yet today we are witnessing a new jahiliyah in parts of the Muslim world.

Take the anti-blasphemy law in Pakistan and variations of it in Afghanistan and elsewhere — imposing severe penalties, including death, for insulting Islam and the Prophet or desecrating the Qur’an.

Capital punishment is not confined to Muslim jurisdictions. Nations as varied as China, India and the United States have it, albeit for different crimes. Some governors of American states brag about enforcing state murders, whereas in Pakistan the death penalty is rarely imposed in blasphemy cases and no one has ever been executed.

The real scandal lies elsewhere.

Those accused of blasphemy are often charged and convicted on the flimsiest of evidence. This is contrary to the teachings of Muhammad and Islamic jurisprudence. Both demand a high standard of proof of guilt. Both also hold false accusation and false testimony to be greater sins than the crime under scrutiny.

Blasphemy laws are widely abused to settle personal scores over property or business; or to fan sectarian conflicts and vigilante justice against Christians or other minorities; or to whip up public fury against the West — as against the NATO military presence in Afghanistan or drone attacks on Pakistan or the Danish cartoons against the Prophet.

Those wielding this club are many and varied — jihadists; politicians firing up their base (not unlike some Republicans and American televangelists); or ill-educated or ignorant mullahs protecting their funding sources by stoking illiterate masses into frenzy.

Such mob rule thrives in a failed or failing Muslim state where the government is too weak to fulfill a key Islamic duty: maintaining the rule of law and security of citizens.

In Pakistan’s latest blasphemy case, a Christian girl, either 11 or 14, is charged with desecrating the Qur’an.

Rimsha Masih was alleged to have been seen with a burned copy not of the holy book but a qaida, primer, used to teach the Qur’an to children. No one saw her burning it. A sweeper, she may have just gathered it with other trash to burn as fuel for cooking.

It was a mullah who instigated Muslim neighbours into action. The mob set ablaze Christian homes and then marched to a police station demanding she be charged.

The police obliged, even though the law states that a person has to “willfully defile” the Qur’an to be charged. Besides, as a minor, she should have been exempt.

On Monday, a medical panel determined that she had a mental disability. Her lawyer hopes to convince a court today to free her or at least grant bail.

Meanwhile, her family and 300 other Christians had to flee their neighbourhood. Some found shelter in a field, where they built a makeshift church from branches. It was burnt down in the middle of the night.

There have been worse horrors.

In July, a mob of thousands, egged on by clerics, dragged a man from a police station after he had been accused of blasphemy, beat him to death and set his body alight. Desecration of the dead is un-Islamic.

In Nov. 2010, Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old Christian mother, was convicted of blasphemy after complaints by Muslim women she had an argument with. She remains on death row.

The governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, a liberal Muslim belonging to the ruling People’s Party, who championed her case was gunned down by his bodyguard. The killer was hailed a hero. About 200 lawyers showered petals when he came to court.

Nearly 500 hard-line clerics forbade their followers from attending the governor’s funeral for which President Asaf Zardari did not show up. Even the powerful chief of the army, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, did not commiserate publicly with the grieving family, reportedly because too many of his rank-and-file sympathized with the assassin.

Two months later, gunmen assassinated Shahbaz Bhatti, the country’s only Christian cabinet minister. He, too, had criticized the blasphemy law. (Jason Kenney attended his funeral but not Taseer’s, showing the Stephen Harper government’s own sectarianism).

Bhatti’s brother, Paul, is now minister for national harmony. He says that even if Rimsha is found not guilty, she and her family won’t be safe. As in other such cases, they must be given new identities and moved elsewhere – even abroad, to the U.S., Canada or Europe.

There’s nothing Islamic about this anarchy. Police and prosecutors lay charges, and judges impose harsh sentences, fearing the wrath of mobs. Governments abdicate their duty. Zardari, and before him the powerful military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, both promised reforms to the blasphemy laws but backed off.

Christians have been the biggest victims of the blasphemy laws (initiated, ironically, by British colonialists but strengthened during the 1980s). Of the nearly 5,000 cases filed since 1984, half have been Christians even though they are 3 per cent of the population of 180 million, an overwhelming majority of whom are Sunni Muslims.

Other minorities are victimized in different ways. Last week, gunmen executed 25 Shi’ite Muslims after taking them off a bus. Hindu leaders in the Sindh province called for government protection against forced conversion by Muslim extremists.

In this gloomy picture, there was one ray of light this week.

An umbrella group of Islamic scholars and clerics, the All Pakistan Ulema Council, joined with the Pakistan Interfaith League (which includes Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and others), to demand that those making false allegations of blasphemy be punished. The council condemned the prevailing “law of the jungle,” and “the climate of fear.”

“This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that the Muslim community and its scholars have stood up for non-Muslims,” said Sajid Ishaq, the chairman of the Interfaith League.

About time.

Note: I have drawn from two recent books – Playing with Fire, by Pamela Constable (Random House) and Apocalyptic Realm, by Dilip Hiro (Yale).

hsiddiqui@thestar.ca

hsiddiqui@thestar.ca

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/1248931--there-is-nothing-islamic-about-pakistan-s-blasphemy-law

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Pakistani Muslim cleric faces possible blasphemy charge

Published on Monday September 03, 2012

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Blasphemy case

Anjum Naveed/AP Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, centre, lawyer for Christian girl accused of blasphemy, leaves the court after a hearing in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012.

Asif Shahzad
The Associated Press

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ISLAMABAD—Pakistani police are investigating whether a Muslim cleric who allegedly tried to frame a Christian girl for blasphemy should be charged with insulting Islam himself and potentially face life in prison, a police officer said Monday.

Khalid Chisti was arrested Saturday after a member of his mosque accused him of stashing pages of a Qur’an in a Christian girl’s bag to make it seem like she burned the Islamic holy book. He allegedly planted the evidence to push Christians out of his neighbourhood in Islamabad. He has denied the allegations.

The case has generated significant international attention because of reports that the girl is as young as 11 and is mentally handicapped.

Human rights activists have long criticized Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws, saying they are misused to persecute non-Muslims and settle personal vendettas. They have hailed Chisti’s arrest as unprecedented and hope it will prevent false blasphemy accusations in the future.

More immediately, they have called for the release of the Christian girl, who has been held in prison for over two weeks.

She will remain in jail until at least Friday after her bail hearing was postponed for a second time Monday, said her lawyer, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry. The court adjourned the hearing until then because of a lawyers’ strike, he said.

Police registered a blasphemy case against Chisti on Monday for allegedly desecrating the Qur’an, said police officer Munir Jafferi. If he is charged by a court and convicted, he could face life in prison, said Jafferi.

A separate section of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws says insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad carries the death penalty.

Police are also contemplating levelling additional charges against Chisti, such as fraud, planting evidence and making false allegations, said Jafferi.

Police arrested the girl from her neighbourhood in Islamabad over two weeks after an angry mob of several hundred appeared at a local police station, demanding action against her for alleged blasphemy. Police said at the time that they took her into custody partly to protect her from potential harm.

People accused of blasphemy, even those who aren’t convicted, often face vigilante justice by outraged Pakistanis. A Pakistani man accused of blasphemy in July was dragged from a police station in the centre of the country, beaten to death and his body set on fire.

Christians in the girl’s neighbourhood left the area en masse as soon as the accusations surfaced, fearing retribution from their Muslim neighbours.

The Associated Press has withheld the girl’s name because it does not generally identify juveniles under 18 who are accused of crimes.

The girl’s supporters say she is 11 years old and has Down syndrome; a medical board said she was about 14 and that her mental age didn’t match her physical age.

Opinion:There is nothing Islamic about Pakistan’s blasphemy law

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1250469--pakistani-muslim-cleric-faces-possible-blasphemy-charge

Pakistani court extends imprisonment for Christian girl accused of blasphemy

Published on Friday August 31, 2012

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Zarar Khan
The Associated Press

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ISLAMABAD—A Pakistani court Friday ordered a Christian girl accused of blasphemy to be held in prison for two more weeks as police finalize charges against her, her lawyer and police said, the latest step in a case that has stoked controversy at home and abroad.

The case has focused attention on Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws that can result in prison or even death for insulting Islam. Human rights activists have long criticized the laws and said they are used to persecute non-Muslims and settle personal scores.

The court’s decision was procedural, since the girl’s initial two-week detention ended Thursday, said her lawyer, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry. He hopes she will be freed on bail at a hearing Saturday, he said.

Local TV video from the court showed the girl covered in a white sheet to protect her identity and surrounded by police, including two female constables.

This case generated an uproar because of reports that the girl was as young as 11 and suffered from Down syndrome. A neighbour has accused her of burning pages from Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an, but her lawyer has denied the allegation.

A medical report released this week said the girl was 14 and that her mental state did not correspond with her age. The report could mean the girl will be tried in the more lenient juvenile court system, which could possibly defuse the highly contentious case.

During an initial bail hearing Thursday, the lawyer for the man who accused the girl of blasphemy asked that the medical report be rejected, saying it unduly favoured the accused. The judge delayed the hearing until Saturday to investigate the lawyer’s accusations.

The Associated Press is withholding the girl’s name because it does not generally identify underage suspects.

Police arrested the girl from her neighbourhood in Islamabad over two weeks after an angry mob of several hundred appeared at a local police station, demanding action against her for alleged blasphemy. Police said at the time that they took her into custody partly to protect her from potential harm.

People accused of blasphemy, even those who aren’t convicted, often face vigilante justice by outraged Pakistanis. A Pakistani man accused of blasphemy in July was dragged from a police station in the centre of the country, beaten to death and his body set on fire.

Christians in the girl’s neighbourhood left the area en masse as soon as the accusations surfaced, fearing retribution from their Muslim neighbours.

On Monday, the All Pakistan Ulema Council, an umbrella organization of Muslim clerics, held a news conference together with the Pakistan Interfaith League and called for an investigation into whether the girl was wrongly accused and what role religious extremism played.

The head of the clerics’ council, Maulana Tahir-ul-Ashrafi, is seen as close to the government. It’s unclear whether other government officials or clerics will speak out, since blasphemy is an extremely sensitive and potentially dangerous subject in Pakistan.

Two prominent politicians who criticized the blasphemy laws were murdered last year. One was killed by his own bodyguard, who then attracted adoring crowds.

Immediately following the girl’s arrest, President Asif Ali Zardari issued a statement calling for an investigation, but he has said nothing since then.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1249667--pakistani-court-extends-imprisonment-for-christian-girl-accused-of-blasphemy

Pakistani girl jailed for defaming Islam too traumatized to speak

Published on Thursday August 23, 2012

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Pakistan blasphemy

B.K. Bangash/AP Mukhtar Khan, neighbour of the Christian girl arrested for blasphemy, shows her locked house. He vowedto never allow them to live in this neighbourhood, a suburb of Islamabad.

Aisha Chowdhry
Reuters

48 Comments

ISLAMABAD- A Pakistani Christian girl detained on accusations of defaming Islam was too frightened to speak in a prison where she is being held in solitary confinement for her safety, an activist who said he visited her said on Thursday.

Pakistani girl arrested for blasphemy

Religious and secular groups worldwide have protested over the arrest last week of Rimsha Masih, accused by Muslim neighbours of burning Islamic religious texts.

The case has put another spotlight on Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law, which rights groups say dangerously discriminates against the conservative Muslim country’s tiny minority groups.

Christian activist Xavier William said he visited Masih at a police station where she was first held, and then this week in a prison in the city of Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad.

“She was frightened and traumatized,” William told Reuters.

“She was assaulted and in very bad shape. She had bruises on her face and on her hands,” he added, referring to a mob that attacked Masih in her village on the edge of Islamabad after she was accused of blasphemy.

Under the blasphemy law, anyone who speaks ill of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad commits a crime and faces the death penalty, but activists say vague terminology has led to its misuse.

Convictions are common, although the death sentence has never been carried out. Most convictions are thrown out on appeal, but mobs have killed many people accused of blasphemy.

There have been conflicting reports on Masih’s age and her mental state. Some media have said she is 11 and suffers from Down’s Syndrome.

One police official said she is 16 and mentally sound. William said he had seen a copy of a medical report which said she has no mental illness. Masih’s family told William she is 14, he said.

Masih’s arrest triggered an exodus of several hundred Christians from her poverty-stricken village after local mosques reported over their loudspeakers what the girl was alleged to have done. Emotions were running high there.

A neighbour named Tasleem said her daughter saw Masih throwing away trash that included the burned religious material.

“If Christians burn our Qur’an, we will burn them,” she told Reuters.

Other Muslims were more conciliatory.

“We protected the rest of the Christians,” said Masih’s landlord Malik Amjad Mohammad. “People here support them.”

Christians, who make up 4 per cent of Pakistan’s population of 180 million, have been especially concerned about the blasphemy law, saying it offers them no protection.

Convictions hinge on witness testimony and are often linked to vendettas, they complain.

In 2009, 40 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob of 1,000 Muslims in the town of Gojra, Punjab. At least seven Christians were burned to death. The attacks were triggered by reports of the desecration of the Koran.

Two Christian brothers accused of writing a blasphemous letter against the Prophet Mohammad were gunned down outside a court in the eastern city of Faisalabad in July of 2010.

President Asif Ali Zardari has told officials to produce a report on the girl’s arrest, which has brought protests from Amnesty International, British-based Christian group Barnabas Fund, and others.

Masih is due to appear in court in the next 10 days. She could be formally charged with blasphemy.

“She is in solitary confinement at Adiala jail because of her safety,” said William. “She would not make eye contact. She did not say anything. She did not answer back.”

 http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1245828--pakistani-girl-jailed-for-defaming-islam-too-traumatized-to-speak

[사랑]

주님께서 반드시 저들의 억울하게 흘린피를 갚아주시고 위로하여주시고 그눈에서 눈물을 닦아주실것입니다
저들을 볼때에 우리는 얼마나 안락한 환경 ( 외적인핍박없이..)에서 예수를 믿나 생각해봅니다

[계 7 : 17] 이는 보좌 가운데 계신 어린 양이 저희의 목자가 되사 생명수 샘으로 인도하시고 하나님께서 저희 눈에서 모든 눈물을 씻어 주실 것임이러라
[계 21 : 4] 모든 눈물을 그 눈에서 씻기시매 다시 사망이 없고 애통하는 것이나 곡하는 것이나 아픈 것이 다시 있지 아니하리니 처음 것들이 다 지나갔음이러라