The case against cleric, Khalid Jadoon Chishti, was dismissed after the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence against him. Witnesses had previously made statements alleging that he had planted burnt pages of the Qur’an in the rubbish bag used by Rimsha, before making blasphemy accusations against the girl over his mosque’s loudspeaker, inciting mob violence. The same witnesses later stated that they had been coerced by police and withdrew their statements.
The religious cleric accused of damaging a Qur’an to falsify evidence in the blasphemy case of Rimsha Masih was acquitted of all charges on 17 August.
The case against cleric, Khalid Jadoon Chishti, was dismissed after the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence against him. Witnesses had previously made statements alleging that he had planted burnt pages of the Qur’an in the rubbish bag used by Rimsha, before making blasphemy accusations against the girl over his mosque’s loudspeaker, inciting mob violence. The same witnesses later stated that they had been coerced by police and withdrew their statements.
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Suspected Islamic militants attacked a Pentecostal church in northwestern Pakistan killing a security guard and shooting at the building before leaving the scene, local officials and Christians told Worthy News. The Assembly of God Church (AoG) in the Swati gate area of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa province, was reportedly attacked early Friday, July 5, amid heightened tensions over minorities in the region. Christians said the two attackers tried to enter the building where pastors gathered for a refresher training course, but were stopped by the guard, a policeman, whose name was not immediately revealed. An astounding 100,000 Christians are killed each year because of their faith, the Vatican reports. “Credible research has reached the shocking conclusion that an estimate of more than 100,000 Christians are violently killed because of some relation to their faith every year,” Vatican spokesman Monsieur Silvano Maria Tomassi said Tuesday in a radio address to the United Nations Human Rights Council. “Other Christians and other believers are subjected to forced displacement, to the destruction of their places of worship, to rape and to the abduction of their leaders, as it recently happened in the case of Bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, in Aleppo [Syria],” he added. Pakistani Christians are increasingly worried about the rise in Taliban attacks in the lead up to the presidential election, writes Christian World News. Fakhrul Islam, a candidate who called for a more secular state was murdered on April 11. “We are very concerned about this wave of violence,” Father James Channan, director of the Center for Peace in Lahore, told Christian World News. “The attacks are aimed at creating tension and instability and threaten the painstakingly built democratic system in Pakistan, perhaps trying to postpone the vote. In addition there is disdain towards the vision of human dignity, human rights, and peaceful coexistence which are the foundations of civilized life,” Fr. Channan said. According to the most recent reports, hundreds of homes in a Christian neighborhood of Lahore were set on fire by thousands of Muslim extremists during two days of violence that began during the evening of March 8th, and then continued again the following morning. The attacks were sparked by yet another incident involving blasphemy allegations against a local Christian. As many as 100 properties are said to have been burnt today as a mob of thousands targeted the Christian-majority area of Joseph Colony, Badami Bagh, Lahore. The violence was reportedly triggered by a blasphemy accusation made against a young Christian, Savan Masih, on 8 March. The unrest spiraled last night as word spread of the allegation and protestors demanded his arrest. Police took him into custody today, but it is unclear whether or not he has been formally charged. At least one local religious leader has openly called for Savan to be killed. A Pakistan court last month surprised all involved when it dismissed charges of blasphemy against a Christian man accused of insulting Islam. The Jan. 28 ruling by a trial court in Punjab province surprised defendant Barkat Masih, his attorney and religious-rights advocates. It came two months after a different judge threw out similar charges against a teen-aged girl that drew worldwide criticism of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws. New York Encounter is an annual three-day public cultural festival which will take place at the Manhattan Center, 311 West 34th Street, NYC, January 18-20, 2013.
New York Encounter 2013 will explore the meaning of freedom, featuring exhibits on the Cristeros of Mexico, G.K. Chesterton, and presentations by Msgr. Albacete, Fr. Peter Cameron, and Paul Bhatti, brother of a modern day martyr from Pakistan. On Human Rights Day, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) welcomes the increased global attention on the right to freedom of religion or belief in the past year, and encourages the international community to translate this into action to protect and promote this universal human right.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Pakistan today ordered that the case against Rimsha Masih, the young Christian girl accused of blasphemy in August, be thrown out. Last week the IHC reserved its judgment on an application from Rimsha Masih’s lawyers for the original charge to be annulled. Her lawyers contended that the charge was fabricated and cited the girl’s age and learning difficulties as reasons for dismissal. During today’s hearing, IHC Chief Justice Iqbal Hameed ur Rahman ordered the police to dismiss the First Information Report (FIR) filed against her. Her accuser’s lawyers retain the right to appeal the decision. |
Walter Blackwood
Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. Archives
May 2017
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