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ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Lawyer optimistic on young man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan
By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in Pakistan
Blasphemy accused Shahid Masih with his lawyer, Khalil Tahir
FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- The lawyer of 17-year old Christian, Shahid Masih, who was accused of blasphemy last month has expressed optimism that his client would be acquitted by the court.
Masih’s lawyer, Khalil Tahir told this to ANS on Sunday, October 1.
Shahid Masih was accused by Dr. Arshad Masood, a Muslim, of ransacking his clinic and desecrating outer cover of a religious book that contained translation and interpretation of Quran till Surat-ul-Nisa.
According to the Police First Information Report (FIR), the complainant alleged that on his “interrogation” Ghaffar confessed that he had committed alleged ransacking and desecration of the religious book along with Shahid Masih.
The FIR was filed in Police Station Sadar, Faisalabad. Shahid Masih and Ghaffar have been charged with 295-B. The alleged desecration of the religious book occurred on September 10 at Chak 208 Rab, Faisalabad.
Talking to ANS Masih’s lawyer said Shahid’s acquittal by the court may take a year due to snail-paced dispensation of cases as well as discriminatory attitude of judiciary in disposing of blasphemy-related cases.
He said the fanatic Muslim clerics also develop pressure on the judges deciding the blasphemy cases by assembling outside the courts.
Khalil Tahir talks to Shahid Masih
“The case is fictitious. According to Evidence Act article 38, 39, 40, 43 the statement of any accused cannot be used against any other accused neither in favor nor against him. Therefore, implication of my client in this case is violation of law," said Khalil Tahir, who is defending Masih.
He said he had been defending blasphemy accused pro bono since 1997. When this correspondent asked him how he was satisfying his social self he said: “I am a practicing lawyer and I plead other cases as well”.
He claimed that he does not charge victims of rape, forced conversions and blasphemy.
Asked what chances he saw of Masih’s acquittal, an upbeat Khalil said he was hundred percent sure of Masih’s acquittal.
“I have made appeals to Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Federal Law Minister Wasi Zafar, and Rapetteour of UN and also to Defender of Defenders,” he said.
When asked to name Christians accused of blasphemy in Faisalabad before Shahid Masih. Khalil said additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Shahid Rafique had convicted one Shahbaz Masih alias Kaka of life in prison in 2004.
Khalil said that the judge convicted the mentally handicapped Christian to life imprisonment despite the fact that article 84 of the Pakistan penal code prohibits the conviction of a person who suffers unsoundness of mind.
The same judge had convicted Ranja Masih who he said was accused of blasphemy.
Shahid’s family claimed that Masih is innocent, saying Arshad Masood had implicated him in a concocted case.
Asked if they had any rivalry with the complainant they said they were rather enjoying very friendly relations with him.
“My husband Munawar, a labourer is the sole breadwinner of the family. He earns Rs 100-150 per day. Implication of Masih in blasphemy case has compounded our economic woes”, said Shaid’s mother Alice, 80.
“When I went to see my son in lock up he kept weeping all the time”, she said.
“We are living in a grip of fear ever since the Dr. accused my son of blasphemy”, Shahid’s father, Munawar told ANS.
Talking to ANS Human Rights Activist and coordinator of Centre for Legal Aid and Assistance (CLAAS) Joseph Francis said that his centre’s fact finding had revealed that Shahid Masih is innocent and a blasphemy case has been invented against him.
The writer is a freelance journalist based in Pakistan.
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
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"Al-Qaeda HQ 'based in Pakistan'"
BBC News ^ | Monday, 2 October 2006 | BBC Staff
Posted on 10/02/2006 5:24:11 AM PDT by fanfan
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A letter found when al-Qaeda's chief in Iraq was killed said the group's leadership was based in Waziristan, Pakistan, the Washington Post reports.
The December 2005 missive is said to be the first to emerge from what the US military calls a "treasure trove" after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death in June.
It was reportedly sent by a member of Osama Bin Laden's high command, who said he wrote from Waziristan.
Bin Laden is suspected of hiding along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
If accurate, the letter would confirm the location of the al-Qaeda leadership at the time it was written, the newspaper said."
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"Last Stand For Zimbabwe's White Farmers"
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 10-4-2006 | Peta Thornycroft
Posted on 10/03/2006 6:49:43 PM PDT by blam
Last stand for Zimbabwe's white farmers By Peta Thornycroft in Karoi (Filed: 04/10/2006)
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A tiny court in a shabby farming town in Zimbabwe was the setting yesterday for a last despairing attempt to stop President Robert Mugabe from evicting the country's few surviving white landowners.
A new law about to pass parliament will, in effect, give the regime power in the next 90 days to dispossess the last few hundred white farmers who still cling to their land.
Two white farming families who have already received eviction letters appealed to the magistrates' court in Karoi to halt the orders.
If the Nel and Terblanche families lose the test case, there will be nothing in law to stop Mr Mugabe from eliminating the surviving white landowners."