Mentally ill Scottish man to be killed for blasphemy.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-25874580

Saba EitizazBBC News, Islamabad
"We are afraid that Asghar is not going to live long enough to see an appeal against his death sentence." Asghar's lawyer told me.
This case is highly sensitive because of the strong reaction by the religious right to blasphemy cases. It is so sensitive that lawyers requested their names be withheld for security reasons.
Muhammad Asghar is a British Pakistani from Edinburgh who came back to Pakistan to look after the family's property here. He has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic by the Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh and is also partially paralysed from a stroke.
The blasphemy complaint against Asghar was filed by a tenant in his building, after he was given an eviction notice. Sources say there is pressure on the court from religious extremists who have been seen in mobs outside the courthouse.
He tried to take his own life once in jail, where has been held since 2010. The authorities have refused to put him on suicide watch, his lawyer says. There is also fear that religious extremists might harm him.
He is currently in the same jail as Mumtaz Qadri, who was arrested for assassinating former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer for speaking out against the country's strict blasphemy laws.

A kangaroo court and a man mentally ill facing death for blasphemy.Solicitors afraid they will be attacked and killed by extremists.Disgusting.

[Gaidin]

It's Friday in Pakistan.

[Gaidin]

Also, the actual story if you're going to post more than a link. Leaving out the eerily important information that might keep people from going to the link like why he was arrested and so forth. The attempt at a mental illness plea, how his lawyer was removed from the case and (I don't think) he wasn't given another, and at least a basic idea that the British Government is attempting to help.

A court in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi has sentenced a 70-year-old British man to death after convicting him of blasphemy.

Muhammad Asghar was arrested in 2010 after writing letters to various people claiming to be a prophet, reports say.

His lawyers argued for leniency, saying he has a history of mental illness, but this was rejected by a medical panel.

Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws carry a potential death sentence for anyone deemed to have insulted Islam.

Several recent cases have prompted international concern about the application of these laws.

Mr Asghar, who is from Edinburgh, Scotland, was accused of writing letters to police officers claiming to be a prophet. He is thought to have lived in Pakistan for several years.

"Asghar claimed to be a prophet even inside the court. He confessed it in front of the judge," Javed Gul, a government prosecutor, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

Sensitive issue

But his lawyer told the BBC's Saba Eitizaz that she was forcibly removed from the case by the judge and that proceedings were carried out behind closed doors.

His lawyer says she will launch an appeal against the verdict, which was delivered late on Thursday. Higher courts in Pakistan have been known to overturn blasphemy verdicts handed down in lower courts because of insufficient evidence.

Mr Asgharn has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and had treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh, but the court did not accept his medical reports from the UK, reports say.

He has been in jail since his arrest in 2010 and his lawyer says he has also tried to take his own life in jail on one occasion.

Correspondents say Mr Asghar is unlikely to be executed as Pakistan has had a de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2008. He was also ordered to pay a substantial fine by the court.

The legal charity Reprieve has urged the UK government to take immediate steps to protect Mr Asghar, adding that he has has "a long and documented history of psychological ill-health" and needs constant care.

Critics argue that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are frequently misused to settle personal scores and that members of minority groups are also unfairly targeted.

In 2012 the arrest of a young Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, on blasphemy charges provoked international outrage. After being detained in a high security prison for several weeks she was eventually released and her family subsequently fled to Canada.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97% of the population are Muslim.

Muslims constitute a majority of those prosecuted, followed by the minority Ahmadi community.

Earlier this year, another 72-year-old British Pakistani from the Ahmadi community, Masood Ahmed, was jailed on blasphemy charges.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

Lol I find it hard that the defence was sent out of the court.I mean how can that be a fair trial.
I would trust the British hospital that he is mad.Either he is mad or he actually is a prophet.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23112180 At least the downs syndrome girl falsely accused of blasphemy is happy and safe and living in Canada.

[Condottiere 40K]

I'll bet in two hundred years there will be television series making fun of this aspect of Pakistan, much like we make fun of Salem.

Samira, the Teenage Blasphemer.

[Roma_Victrix]

I'll bet in two hundred years there will be television series making fun of this aspect of Pakistan, much like we make fun of Salem.

Samira, the Teenage Blasphemer.

I would certainly hope so, but I don't think it will happen in Pakistan. For that matter, who cares if some nutter calls himself a prophet? Good for him; if I saw his crazy ass on the street I'd just laugh and walk past him to buy the rest of my groceries. There's no argument worth having with a schizophrenic, and charging one with a crime like this is beyond ridiculous considering how they don't have control over their own actions.

Seriously, Pakistan, settle down and take it down about 9 notches. You're at a 10 when you need to be at a 1 (or how about 0) on the fundamentalist scale.

[Stavroforos]

Thus, always, to SNP supporters!

Oh wait, it's religious blasphemy. Backwards-ass laws from a backwards-ass country, but it's still their law. Hopefully the Brits can do something to help him get off or get out.

[Menelik_I]

Since is a dead Scotsman a bad thing ? Probably thinning the heard ahead of the Referendum /Sarcasm.

Seriously, Tuesday in Pakistan.

[Tankbustaz]

Waiting for the India == Pakistan from BBC. Perhaps they will show another rape in India and begin to get judgmental about how every day there are rapes in India,while hiding if anything similar happens in the west, or maybe another diplomat oppressing maids because of yeevils of paganism.

Anyway weekdays in Pakistan have a bang in them - literally.

http://english.eastday.com/e/140122/u1a7902505.html

[Menelik_I]

Waiting for the India == Pakistan from BBC. Perhaps they will show another rape in India and begin to get judgmental about how every day there are rapes in India,while hiding if anything similar happens in the west, or maybe another diplomat oppressing maids because of yeevils of paganism.

Anyway weekdays in Pakistan have a bang in them - literally.

http://english.eastday.com/e/140122/u1a7902505.html

Those poor virgins maids from Paradise aren't gonna to sex themselves you know ...

[Denny Crane!]

Funny thing is if Mohammed was born today he'd get killed for Blasphemy lol.

[mongrel]

Funny thing is if Mohammed was born today he'd get killed for Blasphemy lol.

True.

[Heathen Hammer]

Funny thing is if Mohammed was born today he'd get killed for Blasphemy lol.

He'd also get raped in jail, since he was a pedophile.

[Toho]

He'd also get raped in jail, since he was a pedophile.

so will anyone else born almost 1400 years ago.

[Heathen Hammer]

so will anyone else born almost 1400 years ago.

It was normal to marry after puberty. I don't recall that many historical figures marrying somebody who is 9 years old.

[Toho]

It was normal to marry after puberty. I don't recall that many historical figures marrying somebody who is 9 years old.

Richard the Lion Heart was born when his mother was 12 years old.
so she was probably around 10 when she was sent off for marriage and the king's bed.

besides up here in Canada until a few years ago the age of consent was 14 years old. Not everyone lives by the Californian 18 year old legal age limit.
I find it hilarious how some people actually put people from over a thousand years ago to our standards.

people were savages back then.

[AqD]

Funny thing is if Mohammed was born today he'd get killed for Blasphemy lol.

Nope, if he's real, he'd surely find a way out of this, like Jesus or Mohammed.

[Denny Crane!]

Nope, if he's real, he'd surely find a way out of this, like Jesus or Mohammed.

If you believe they have omnipotence perhaps. Since that is impossible I am going to say it is possible for bee prophets to die.

[Stavroforos]

Well, he would likely have been killed for blasphemy then too if he was born in Christian lands.

[Denny Crane!]

Well, he would likely have been killed for blasphemy then too if he was born in Christian lands.

Then was then now is now, or at least supposedly.