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| India-Pakistan |
| LHC frees blasphemy accused Zaibunnisa after 14 years |
| 2010-07-23 |
| [Dawn] The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday released a woman held without trial for 14 years on allegations of desecrating the Holy Quran, her lawyer and court officials said. Despite "no evidence" being found against 60-year-old Zaibunnisa, she had been left to languish in the prison section of a mental asylum since 1996, the court said. Zaibunnisa's family did not challenge her detention, her lawyer said. Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Khawaja Mohammad Sharif, "has ordered the release of Zaibunnisa after no evidence was found against her," a court official told AFP. "The chief justice expressed his dismay over keeping the woman confined for so long without any trial," the official said. Zaibunnisa was arrested in the town of Rawat, near Islamabad, after a local resident filed a complaint at a police station that someone had desecrated the Holy Quran, defence lawyer Aftab Ahmad Bajwa said. Bajwa said Zaibunnisa's name was not even mentioned in the police complaint. "Nobody, not even her relatives, pursued the case. She was sent to jail and then forgotten by everyone," Bajwa told AFP, who took up her case last year. Complainant Qari Mohammad Hafeez told reporters at the hearing that he had not specified anyone by name in his submission and that police had arrested Zaibunnisa of their own accord. Pakistan's blasphemy law carries the death penalty although no one has ever been sent to the gallows for the crime, but religious extremists have attacked and killed several accused in custody. Two Christian brothers accused of writing a blasphemous pamphlet were shot dead on Monday outside a court in Faisalabad. Human rights activists want the legislation repealed, saying it is exploited for personal enmity and encourages religious extremism. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 She. I bet SHE thought... |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-07-23 03:53 |
| #1 Gee, I bet he though he was in a world of sh*t there for the first 8 or 9 years. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-07-23 03:52 |