Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Zatalounge

Zatalounge is a chat forum provided for those who wish to present their personal views, opinions, or insights on all sorts of topics. Everyone has an opinion and they don't always agree. This website seeks to promote differences of opinion and discussions among users so that everyone gets to have their say.

Become a registered member or be our guest. It's your choice!


Username:   Password:
Add Reply
For MPC: Pakistan denies man hanged by Taliban was one of its spies
Topic Started: Oct 6 2015, 10:15 PM (116 Views)
Guest
Unregistered

Pakistan denies man hanged by Taliban was one of its spies

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military denied on Monday that a man shown being hanged in videos released by the Taliban was one of its intelligence officers, as the insurgents had claimed.

In footage released on Sunday, the militant group hanged a man who identified himself as belonging to a Pakistan Army unit and said he had been recruited by the country’s military intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

The videos were provided by a Taliban commander in the mountainous border region of North Waziristan who is known to Reuters. He did not comment on when or where the video was shot.

Read: Brazen assault: Bloodbath at airbase

“It is totally baseless news,” military spokesperson General Asim Bajwa said in a statement.

“The person shown in the video is neither a serving soldier nor an intelligence official.”

A senior government official said that according to intelligence reports, the man who was hanged was an Afghan national who had crossed over into Pakistan a few years ago and been kidnapped by the Taliban.

“When his family did not pay ransom, he was hanged,” the official said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media about the case.

Read: PAF base attack planned in Afghanistan: DG ISPR

The Taliban often claim responsibility for incidents in which they were not involved, and are known to exaggerate fatality figures for attacks on army convoys in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan reinstated the death penalty last December after Taliban gunmen massacred 134 schoolchildren.

“The hanging … is our response to the Pakistani government who are busy hanging our group members,” a masked man in one of the two videos said into the camera. “This is just the beginning and all those who are in our custody or those who have any links with the Pakistan government will face the same treatment.”

Read: Pakistan military ranked 11th strongest in world

Taliban violence in Pakistan has fallen overall since the military launched an offensive in North Waziristan in June 2014. But the militants have demonstrated that they are still able to carry out sophisticated attacks, including one on an air base that killed 39 people last month.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/968120/pakistan-denies-man-hanged-by-taliban-was-one-of-its-spies/

Posted Image

http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/968120-asimbajwaafp-1444107160-368-640x480.jpg
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court questioned on Tuesday whether individuals had the authority to punish a blasphemer.

Hearing former elite force guard Mumtaz Qadri’s plea, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said the main issue in the case is whether individuals can presume the authority to punish a blasphemer.

Justice Khosa expressed apprehension that if people took the authority to punish blasphemers then a “trend will start” which will be “dangerous for society.”

Read: Plea against death sentence: Defence says religious scholar influenced Qadri

Further, the judge said that there are a number of precedents in the superior courts wherein individuals have leveled allegations of blasphemy on the basis of their personal grudges.

Justice Khosa also questioned whether the accused had approached the state against former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.

Although agreeing with the court’s apprehension, the counsel for the accused, Nazir Akhtar, said, “Punishing a blasphemer is a religious duty which has to be performed by everyone.”

“In 80 cases, courts have given punishment and in 40 cases individuals have taken steps against blasphemers,” Akhtar added.

Read: Mumtaz Qadri case: At least 70 ST activists held

On Monday, Qadri’s lawyer argued before a bench of the Supreme Court that the guard had acted on his own interpretation of the blasphemy law and teachings of the Holy Quran after being influenced by speeches of a religious scholar to assassinate ex-Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.

Mian Nazir Akhtar, arguing Qadri’s plea to overturn the death sentence awarded by an anti-terror court, said that the guard was convinced Taseer had committed blasphemy.

The three-member bench noted that the real culprit was the person who had induced Qadri to commit the act.

Justice Khosa added that no evidence had been presented that showed Taseer committed blasphemy; rather it seemed that the slain governor had pointed out defects in the law — which did not constitute a crime.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/968249/sc-questions-whether-individuals-have-authority-to-punish-blasphemers/

Posted Image

http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/968249-MumtazQadriPHOTOSAFP-1444124610-523-640x480.jpg
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_Pakistan

The Pakistan Penal Code prohibits blasphemy against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. From 1987 to 2014 over 1300 people have been accused of blasphemy, mostly non-Muslim religious minorities. The vast majority of the accusations were lodged for desecration of the Quran.[1]

Over 50 people accused of blasphemy have been murdered before their respective trials were over,[2][3] and prominent figures who opposed blasphemy laws (Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab, and Shahbaz Bhatti, the Federal Minister for Minorities) have been assassinated.[1] Since 1990, 62 people have been murdered as a result of blasphemy allegations.[4]

According to one religious minority source, an accusation of blasphemy commonly subjects the accused, police, lawyers, and judges to harassment, threats, attacks and rioting.[5] Critics complain that Pakistan's blasphemy law "is overwhelmingly being used to persecute religious minorities and settle personal vendettas,"[6] but calls for change in the blasphemy laws have been strongly resisted by Islamic parties - most prominently the Barelvi school of Islam.[4]

Pakistan's laws became particularly severe between 1980 and 1986, when a number of clauses were added to the laws by the military government of General Zia-ul Haq, to "Islamicise" the laws and deny the Muslim character of the Ahmadi minority.[1] Prior to 1986, only 14 cases pertaining to blasphemy were reported.[2]

There has also been at least one case of an attack on a non-Muslim faith registered under the blasphemy laws.[7][8]

Religious Offences and Punishments[edit]
PPC Description Penalty
§ 298 Uttering of any word or making any sound or making any gesture or placing of any object in the sight with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person. 1 years imprisonment, or fine, or both
§ 298A Use of derogatory remarks etc., in respect of holy personages. 1980 3 years imprisonment, or fine, or both
§ 298B
(Ahmadi blasphemy law) Misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles etc., reserved for certain holy personages or places, by Ahmadis. 26 April 1984 3 years imprisonment and fine
§ 298C
(Ahmadi blasphemy law) Aka Ordinance XX: An Ahmadi, calling himself a Muslim, or preaching or propagating his faith, or "in any manner whatsoever" outraging the religious feelings of Muslims, or posing himself as a Muslim. 26 April 1984 3 years imprisonment and fine
§ 295 Injuring or defiling places of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class Up to 2 years imprisonment or fine, or both
§ 295A Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. 1927[13] Up to 10 years imprisonment, or fine, or both
§ 295B Defiling, etc., of Quran. 1982[14] Imprisonment for life
§ 295C Use of derogatory remarks, spoken, written, directly or indirectly, etc. defiles the name of Muhammad. 1986 Mandatory Death and fine (Feb. 1990[15])
Trial must take place in a Court of Session with a Muslim judge presiding.[16]

Except for § 295-C, the provisions of § 295 require that an offence be a consequence of the accused's intent. (See below Sharia.)

§ 298 states:

Whoever, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person or makes any gesture in the sight of that person or places any object in the sight of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
Between 1986 and 2007, Pakistani authorities charged 647 people with blasphemy offences.[17] Fifty percent of these were non-Muslims, who represent only 3% of the national population.[17] No judicial execution for blasphemy has ever occurred in Pakistan,[18][19] but 20 of those charged were murdered.[17][20]

The only law that may be useful in countering misuse of the Blasphemy law is PPC 153 A (a), whoever "by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities" shall be fined and punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to five years.

On 12 January 2011, Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani once again said that there would be no amendments to the blasphemy law.[21]

Sharia[edit]
The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) is a religious body which rules on whether any particular law is repugnant to the injunctions of Islam. If a law is repugnant to Islam, "the President in the case of a law with respect to a matter in the Federal Legislative List or the Concurrent Legislative List, or the Governor in the case of a law with respect to a matter not enumerated in either of those Lists, shall take steps to amend the law so as to bring such law or provision into conformity with the Injunctions of Islam" (Constitution, Article 203D). In October 1990, the FSC ruled that § 295-C was repugnant to Islam by permitting life imprisonment as an alternative to a death sentence. The Court said "the penalty for contempt of the Holy Prophet ... is death."[22][23] The FSC ruled that, if the President did not take action to amend the law before 30 April 1991, then § 295-C would stand amended by its ruling.

Promptly after the FSC's ruling in 1990, Bishop Dani L. Tasleem filed an appeal in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which has the power to overrule the FSC. In April 2009, the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court considered the appeal. Deputy Attorney-General Agha Tariq Mehmood, who represented the federal government, said that the Shariat Appellate Bench dismissed the appeal because the appellant did not pursue it. The appellant did not present any argument on the appeal because the appellant, according to reports, was no longer alive. Consequently, it appears to be the law in Pakistan that persons convicted under § 295-C must be sentenced to death with or without a fine.[24]

Vigilantism[edit]
Those who are accused of blasphemy may be subject to harassment, threats, and attacks. Police, lawyers, and judges may also be subject to harassment, threats, and attacks when blasphemy is an issue.[25][26] Those accused of blasphemy are subject to immediate incarceration, and most accused are denied bail to forestall mob violence.[23][25] It is common for those accused of blasphemy to be put in solitary confinement for their protection from other inmates and guards. Like those who have served a sentence for blasphemy, those who are acquitted of blasphemy usually go into hiding or leave Pakistan.[19][25][27]

United Nations[edit]
Pakistan's opposition to blasphemy has caused Pakistan to be active in the international arena in promoting global limitations on freedom of religion or belief and limitations on freedom of expression. In March 2009, Pakistan presented a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva which calls upon the world to formulate laws against the defamation of religion.[25] See blasphemy.

Internet censorship[edit]
Main article: Internet censorship in Pakistan
In May 2010, Pakistan blocked access to Facebook because the website hosted a page called Everybody Draw Muhammad Day. Pakistan lifted the block after Facebook prevented access to the page. In June 2010, Pakistan blocked seventeen websites for hosting content that the authorities considered offensive to Muslims. At the same time, Pakistan began to monitor the content of Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail, and Bing.[28][29]
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

Arrests and death sentences issued for blasphemy laws in Pakistan go back to the late 1980s and early 90s. Despite the implementation of these laws, no one has yet been executed by the order of the courts or governments as to date, only imprisoned to await a verdict or killed at the hands of felons who were convinced that the suspects were guilty.[32][33]

Some of the widely reported cases were:

In January, 2014 Muhammad Asghar, a 70-year-old British man from Edinburgh, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by a court in Rawalpindi. Mr. Asghar had initially been arrested in 2010 after sending letters in which he declared himself a prophet, and had lived in Pakistan for several years prior to his arrest and trial. Javed Gul, a government prosecutor, disclosed to Agence France Presse that, "Asghar claimed to be a prophet even inside the court. He confessed it in front of the judge." Mr. Asghar's lawyers had argued during the trial that he should be granted leniency on account of a history of mental illness, but a medical panel later rejected this argument after reviewing his case.[34]
In September 2013, a Lahore-based woman Salma Fatima was arrested by Police after she distributed pamphlets declaring herself a Prophet.[35]
Arfa Iftikhar was forced into hiding after a furious mob stormed Farooqi Girls’ High School in the eastern city of Lahore over a piece of homework she set that allegedly contained derogatory references to the Muslim prophet Mohammad.[36]
Rimsha Masih (some reports use the name "Rifta" or "Riftah") is a Pakistani child who was arrested in Islamabad by Pakistani police in August 2012 and who could face the death penalty for blasphemy[37][38] for allegedly desecrating pages of the Quran (or a book containing verses from the Quran) by burning.[39][40] She is a member of Pakistan's Christian minority.[37]
In July 2011 Muhammad Ajmal escaped the raid of a local religious group in Rawalpindi, who later announced that anti Islam and blasphemous material against Prophet of Islam was found from his apartment,Both printed and in his Laptop, which was banned by the Government of Pakistan on the internet, Ajmal disappeared since July 2011,
On 12 December 2011, a teacher Shahid Nadeem in the missionary school of Faisalabad accused by Qari Muhammad Afzal (who is a member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which is a banned organisation) registered FIR on 28 December 2011 in the local police station and said that culprit had deliberately torn the pages of Quran and later burn these pages.
On 2 March 2011 Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs (a Roman Catholic member of the National Assembly), was killed by gunmen in Islamabad as he was travelling to work, a few weeks after he had vowed to defy death threats over his efforts to reform Pakistan's blasphemy laws.[41]
In November 2010, Asia Bibi was sentenced to death by hanging on a charge of blasphemy; the case that has yet to be upheld by the Lahore High Court has sparked international reactions. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was shot dead by his security guard for supporting Asia Bibi. Salman Taseer had visited Asia Bibi in Jail and had held a press conference with her.[42] He had told media that Asia Bibi will be released soon and the President of Pakistan will soon annul her death sentence. This triggered mass protests in Pakistan with many imams of local mosques claiming that Salman Taseer had defied Mohammed and should be sentenced to death for it. Taseer was later assassinated in early 2011.
In July 2010, a trader in Faisalabad complained that one of his employees had been handed a pamphlet which contained disrespectful remarks about Muhammad. According to the police, the pamphlet appeared to have the signatures and addresses of Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajid, who were Christians. The brothers were shot and killed while being escorted by the police from a district court. Both had denied the charge of blasphemy.[43] Allama Ahmed Mian Hammadi, a Pakistani Muslim cleric, claimed that Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Minorities, had himself committed blasphemy by branding the murdered Christian brothers as victims of Pakistan's blasphemy laws.
On 9 July 2009, a FIR was registered against two teenager brothers, complainant falsely accusing them that they had spoke against Prophet Mohammad and this family had to left the country for their safety. On 30 July 2009, hundreds of members of Sipah-e-Sahaba and International Khatm-e-Nabuwat 'IKNM' the banned Muslim organisations, torched the Christian homes and killed Christians in the Punjabi city of Gojra Faisalabad and in the nearby village of Korian, District Faisalabad. The professed reason for the violence was that a Christian had defiled and spoke against Prophet Mohammad.Quran.[44][45][46]
On 22 January 2009, Hector Aleem a Christian Human Rights Activist in Pakistan was arrested on a blasphemy charge. According to the FIR, someone sent a blasphemous text message to the leader of Sunni Tehreek. Hector Aleem was arrested because the sender had once contacted him. Hector Aleem, the Chairman of Peace Worldwide, had been working for a church in Islamabad which was demolished by the CDA (Capital Development Authority) for having been built illegally. When Hector Aleem objected to the destruction of the church he was faced with several threats and lawsuits ranging from fraud to criminal charges. He fought all of them in the courts and proved his innocence. He also faced several assassination attempts. Hector Aleem was eventually arrested on the charge of blasphemy.
In February 2008, Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council reminded Pakistan's representative of the matter regarding Raja Fiaz, Muhammad Bilal, Nazar Zakir Hussain, Qazi Farooq, Muhammad Rafique, Muhammad Saddique and Ghulam Hussain. According to the allegations received, the men were members of the Mehdi Foundation International (MFI), a multi-faith institution utilising the name of Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi. They were arrested on 23 December 2005 in Wapda Town. The police confiscated posters on which Gohar Shahi was shown as "Imam Mehdi." On 13 July 2006, the Anti-Terrorism Court No. 1 in Lahore sentenced each accused to five years of imprisonment, inter alia, under § 295-A for having outraged others' religious feelings. Since 27 August 2006, the seven men have been detained in Sahiwal Jail, Punjab, where they were forced to parade naked, and were suspended from the ceiling and beaten. For this reason, they were constantly threatened and intimidated by prison staff as well as by other detainees.
Christians and Muslims in Pakistan condemned Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code as blasphemous. On 3 June 2006, Pakistan banned the film. Culture Minister Ghulam Jamal said: "Islam teaches us to respect all the prophets of God Almighty and degradation of any prophet is tantamount to defamation of the rest."[47]
On 11 August 2005, Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Anti-Terrorist Court found Younus Shaikh guilty of defiling a copy of the Quran, outraging religious feelings, and propagating religious hatred among society.[48] Shaikh's conviction occurred because he wrote a book: Shaitan Maulvi (Satanic Cleric). The book said stoning to death (Rajam) as a punishment for adultery was not mentioned in the Quran. The book said also that four historical imams (religious leaders) were Jews.[49] The judge imposed upon Shaikh a fine of 100,000 rupees, and sentenced him to spend his life in jail.[50]
In October 2000, Pakistani authorities charged Dr. M. Younus Shaikh M.D., a physician, with blasphemy on account of remarks that students claimed he made during a lecture. The students alleged that, inter alia, Shaikh had said Muhammad's parents were non-Muslims because they died before Islam existed. A judge ordered that Shaikh pay a fine of 100,000 rupees, and that he be hanged.[51] On 20 November 2003, a court retried the matter and acquitted Shaikh, who fled Pakistan for Switzerland soon thereafter.[52]
The police arrested Ayub Masih, a Pakistani Christian bricklayer for blasphemy on 14 October 1996 and jailed him for violation of § 295-C. Muhammad Akram, a Muslim neighbour to Masih, complained to the police that Masih had said Christianity was right, and Masih had recommended that Akram read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses.[22][53] The same day that Masih was arrested, Muslim villagers forced the entire Christian population of Masih's village (fourteen families) to leave the village. Masih's family had applied under a government program that gave housing plots to landless people. Local landlords resented Masih's application because the landlords had been able to oblige landless Christians to work in the fields in exchange for a place to live. Masih's application gave him a way out of his subservience to the landlords.[23] Upon Masih's arrest, the authorities gave Masih's plot to Akram.[22] Akram shot and injured Masih in the halls of the Session Court at Sahiwal on 6 November 1997. Four assailants attacked Masih in jail. The authorities took no action against Akram or against the other assailants.[22] On 20 April 1998, Judge Abdul Khan sentenced Masih to death and levied a fine of 100,000 rupees. Two judges of the Lahore High Court heard Masih's appeal on 24 July 2001. Shortly thereafter, the judges affirmed the judgment of the trial court.[22] On 16 August 2002, the Supreme Court of Pakistan set aside the judgment of the lower courts. The Supreme Court noted Akram's acquisition of Masih's property and concluded the case had been fabricated for personal gain. The court also noted other breaches in the law of due process.[54][55]
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

Legal and personal freedom for non-Muslims[edit]
The judicial system encompasses several different court systems with overlapping and sometimes competing jurisdiction, reflecting differences in civil, criminal, and Islamic jurisprudence. The federal sharia court and the sharia bench of the Supreme Court serve as appellate courts for certain convictions in criminal court under the Hudood Ordinances, and judges and attorneys in these courts must be Muslims. The federal sharia court also may overturn any legislation judged to be inconsistent with the tenets of Islam.

The Hudood Ordinances criminalize non-marital rape, extramarital sex, and various gambling, alcohol, and property offences. The Hudood Ordinances are applied to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Some Hudood Ordinance cases are subject to Hadd, or Quranic, punishment; others are subject to Tazir, or secular punishment.

Although both types of cases are tried in ordinary criminal courts, special rules of evidence apply in Hadd cases, which discriminate against non-Muslims. For example, a non-Muslim may testify only if the victim also is non-Muslim. Likewise, the testimony of women, Muslim or non-Muslim, is not admissible in cases involving Hadd punishments. Therefore, if a Muslim man rapes a Muslim woman in the presence of women or non-Muslim men, he cannot be convicted under the Hudood Ordinances.

Christian Church leaders argue that the government needs to go beyond the rhetoric of “minorities are enjoying all rights in the country” when they are not, and take practical steps to ensure that this is done. [7]

According to the survey in 2010 by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, 76% of Pakistanis polled supported the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion. [8]

Sexual freedom[edit]
The Penal Code incorporates a number of Islamic law provisions. The judicial system encompasses several different court systems with overlapping and sometimes competing jurisdictions that reflect differences in civil, criminal, and Islamic jurisprudence. The Federal Shari'a Court and the Shari'a bench of the Supreme Court serve as appellate courts for certain convictions in criminal court under the Hudood Ordinance, which criminalizes rape, extramarital sex, property crimes, alcohol, and gambling; judges and attorneys in these courts must be Muslim. The Federal Shari'a Court may overturn any legislation judged inconsistent with the tenets of Islam. In March 2005, however, the Supreme Court Chief Justice ruled that the Federal Shari'a Court had no jurisdiction to review a decision by a provincial high court even if the Federal Shari'a Court should have had initial appellate jurisdiction.[9]

For both Muslims and non-Muslims, all consensual extramarital sexual relations are considered a violation of the Hudood Ordinances. If a woman cannot prove the absence of consent in a rape case, there is a risk that she may be charged with a violation of the Hudood Ordinances for fornication or adultery. The maximum punishment for this offence is public flogging or stoning. However, there are no recorded instances of either type of punishment since the law was introduced.

According to a police official, in a majority of rape cases, the victims are pressured to drop rape charges because of the threat of Hudood adultery charges being brought against them. A parliamentary commission of inquiry for women has criticized the Hudood Ordinances and recommended their repeal. It also has been charged that the laws on adultery and rape have been subject to widespread misuse, and that 95 percent of the women accused of adultery are found innocent in the court of first instance or on appeal. This commission found that the main victims of the Hudood Ordinances are poor women who are unable to defend themselves against slanderous charges. According to the commission, the laws also have been used by husbands and other male family members to punish their wives and female family members for reasons that have nothing to do with perceived sexual impropriety. Approximately one-third or more of the women in jails in Lahore, Peshawar, and Mardan in 1998 were awaiting trial for adultery under the Hudood Ordinances. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated that this ratio remained unchanged during the period covered by this report.

According to Minorities Concern of Pakistan, forced conversion of Christian and Hindu girls are on the rise in Pakistan. Three international Christian organizations are planning to raise their voice on this issue in the UN.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion_in_Pakistan
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy_in_Islam#Pakistan

Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ردة‎ riddah or ارتداد irtidād) is commonly defined as the conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim in word or through deed.[1][2] It includes the act of converting to another religion, by a person who was born in a Muslim family or who had previously accepted Islam.[3]

Apostasy in Islam includes in its scope not only former Muslims who have renounced Islam to join another religion or become non-religious, but Muslims who have questioned or denied any "fundamental tenet or creed" of Islam such as the divinity of Allah, prophethood of Muhammad, or who have mocked Allah, worshipped one or more idols, reject Sharia courts, or knowingly believed in an interpretation of Sharia that is contrary to the consensus of ummah (Islamic community).[4][5] The term has also been used for people of religions that trace their origins to Islam, such as the Bahá'ís in Iran. Apostasy in Islam does not include acts against Islam or conversion to another religion that is involuntary, forced or done as concealment out of fear of persecution or during war (Taqiyya or Kitman).[6][7]

Ahmet Albayrak explains in The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia that regarding apostasy as a wrongdoing is not a sign of intolerance of other religions, and is not aimed at one’s freedom to choose a religion or to leave Islam and embrace another faith, but that on the contrary, it is more correct to say that the punishment is enforced as a safety precaution when warranted if apostasy becomes a mechanism of public disobedience and disorder (fitna).[8]

The definition of apostasy from Islam and its appropriate punishment are controversial, and they vary among Islamic scholars.[9] In Islam’s history, the vast majority of scholars have held that apostasy in Islam is a crime punishable with the death penalty, typically after a waiting period to allow the apostate time to repent and return to Islam.[10][not specific enough to verify][11][12] Some contemporary Muslim scholars also hold the traditional view that the death penalty for apostasy is required by the two primary sources of Sharia - the Quran and the Hadiths - while others argue that the death penalty is an inappropriate punishment.[13][14][15][16][17] A majority considers apostasy in Islam to be some form of religious crime, although a minority does not.[9][18][19]

Under current laws in Islamic countries, the actual punishment for the apostate (or murtadd مرتد) ranges from execution to prison term to no punishment.[20][21] Islamic nations with sharia courts use civil code to void the Muslim apostate’s marriage and deny child custody rights, as well as his or her inheritance rights for apostasy.[15][not specific enough to verify][16][not specific enough to verify][17][not specific enough to verify] Twenty-three Muslim-majority countries, as of 2013, additionally covered apostasy in Islam through their criminal laws.[22]

According to critics, punishment for apostasy in Islam is a violation of universal human rights, and an issue of freedom of faith and conscience.[13][23][not specific enough to verify] However moderate Muslims do not accept the death penalty for apostasy since it is inconsistent with the Qur'an.[24]

Pakistan[edit]
While several attempts have been made to enact laws prescribing "death penalty for apostasy" in Pakistan, it has no apostasy law as of 2013. Pakistani jurists note that Pakistan's constitution defers gaps in its penal code to Sharia, and the lack of law on apostasy and lack of right to convert from Islam to another religion in Pakistan's law implies apostasy defaults to Sharia.[188] Further, Pakistan has blasphemy law that carries death penalty, but the law does not define blasphemy. Under Article 295-C of its penal code, any Pakistani Muslim who feels his or her religious feelings have been hurt, directly or indirectly, for any reason or any action of another Pakistani citizen can accuse blasphemy and open a criminal case against anyone.[189] Inheritance and property rights for apostates was prohibited by Pakistan in 1963.[14]

An apostasy case law precedence was set in Pakistan in 1990, when Tahir Iqbal was arrested after he converted to Christianity, on charges filed by a Muslim neighbor against Iqbal for becoming an apostate and thereby hurting his religious feelings. Tahir Iqbal was arrested on blasphemy charges, accused that he had defiled Islam by his actions, and for an additional charge of making notes inside his English translation of Quran.[190] His application for bail was refused in 1991 by the Pakistan Sessions Court Judge, with the ruling, "conversion from Islam into Christianity is itself a cognizable offence involving serious implications". Tahir Iqbal's appeal to the Lahore High Court against this ruling was also denied with the explanation that re-asserted "conversion from Islam to Christianity is a serious offence". While Iqbal's trial progressed, public demands for death penalty and life threats were persistently made outside and during court hearings. His crime was considered severe enough that he, a paraplegic, was held in a cell without water, light or toilet facilities. In July 1992, after he had served 19 months in jail while his trial progressed, he was found murdered inside the prison where he was being held.[
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

Some of those examples, ie: a 72 yo proclaiming to be a prophet, sound more like mental health issues than crimes of disrespect. Such a totally crazy part of the world. I hope they don't come here to make us a shit hole like the shit hole they came from.
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

Guest
Oct 6 2015, 10:29 PM
Some of those examples, ie: a 72 yo proclaiming to be a prophet, sound more like mental health issues than crimes of disrespect. Such a totally crazy part of the world. I hope they don't come here to make us a shit hole like the shit hole they came from.
Even if they had recognized it as a mental health issue he would probably not have had therapy, medication, or been able to really get help for it?
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Guest
Unregistered

Salman Rushdie apparently is hated by lots of Muslims and not just IS.
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Erna
Member Avatar

Until the day we see one of these 'exectutia' videos that actually shows someone in the act of being killed from beginning to end with all details included for verificatia, we shall continue to dismiss the whole thing as just one more very tired CIA/MI6 propaganda lie.
The American people could end all this caca and mass murder overnight if they would simply cease paying all Federal taxes and IRS taxes since it is the Federal monster(aka FED) that is responsible for all evil. Once the money source is cut off totally the monster would die a well-deserved death.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · General Discussion · Next Topic »
Add Reply