After the stunning incident of Tahir Naseem, a US citizen, who was accused of blasphemy, was shot useless inside of a courtroom in Pakistan throughout his trial, the US State Office has expressed outrage and shock at the killing of Naseem.
Naseem, 47, died on the place just after he was shot at six times inside Peshawar”s significant-protection Judicial Intricate on Wednesday although he awaited to be shifted to prison. The attacker, Khalid, who reportedly screamed ‘Enemy of Islam’ just before shooting, was arrested and the pistol applied in the killing was seized.
The incident has thrown fresh new impetus on the debate with regards to the controversial blasphemy regulations in Pakistan.
Reform “normally-abused” blasphemy legal guidelines: US to Pakistan
The US has urged Islamabad to right away reform its “frequently-abused” blasphemy guidelines and convey the culprit to justice.
In a press launch issued by Cale Brown, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Office, which stated, “We are stunned, saddened, and outraged that American citizen Tahir Naseem was killed yesterday inside of a Pakistani courtroom. Mr Naseem had been lured to Pakistan from his residence in Illinois by men and women who then used Pakistan”s blasphemy laws to entrap him.”
“We grieve with the family of Mr Naseem. We urge Pakistan to right away reform its frequently-abused blasphemy legislation and its court docket program, which enable such abuses to come about, and to ensure that the suspect is prosecuted to the entire extent of the regulation,” Brown claimed.
The US governing administration has been providing consular guidance to Naseem and his family considering that his detention in 2018 and has known as the notice of senior Pakistani officials to his situation to prevent the form of “shameful tragedy” that eventually happened, he mentioned.
Who was Tahir Naseem and why was he below path?
Naseem, an Ahmedia, was an American citizen who lived in the US right before he was initial arrested in April 2018 just after a local accused him of blasphemy by one Awais Malik, a madrasa university student from Peshawar. He had struck a discussion with Malik on-line when he was living in the US.
The BBC quoted Malik. who explained that he satisfied Naseem at a procuring shopping mall and they discussed religion for the duration of which Naseem claimed that he was the “final prophet of Islam”. Following which a scenario was submitted by Malik accusing Naseem of blasphemy.
In accordance to the FIR, the prisoner was billed in February 2019 below sections 153 A, 295 B, and 295 C. The sections pertaining to the country’s blasphemy law. The deceased had denied the charges and resolved to stand demo.
Al Jazeera documented, no a person has nevertheless been sentenced to demise under the Pakistan’s controversial Blasphemy guidelines, at the very least 77 extrajudicial killings related to blasphemy legislation have happened in Pakistan due to the fact 1990.
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