Hope the BBC still have hooman rights lawyer, Phil Shiner, on speed dial…he is needed right now….
Blasphemy case: Briton in Pakistan sentenced to death
A court in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi has sentenced a 65-year-old British man to death after convicting him of blasphemy.
Mohammad 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.
Mr Asghar is believed to have 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.
Sentenced to death for claiming to be a prophet eh?
Obviously a crime that makes planning to terrorise ‘The West’ pale into insignificance…..I just hope Shiner doesn’t get distracted from his humanitarian mission to free Guantanamo inmates and Taliban ‘insurgents’ by this petty, trivial little example of Islamophobia.
Curiously the first I heard of this case was, well 2 minutes ago….not heard anything on the radio at all.
Perhaps being white I didn’t ‘hear’ the BBC reporting it because I just didn’t recognise the suffering and persecution that other ethnicities go through and blank it from my mind in a fit of subconscious racism.
Or maybe the BBC bulletins never bothered to report it.
Yep…it’s the second, just checked the iPlayer…not in Today’s running order and certainly wasn’t in the news bulletins.
Strange really…such an obviously unjust case, and one with an extreme sentence…..and he has been held since 2010.
Where has been the BBC’s coverage…similar to that it gives to the residents of Guantanamo Bay…who often aren’t even British but merely resident here?
no word so far from the bbc so far on this story,no surprise there.what i want now is are foreign secretary william haugue to make a emergency statement in the houses of parliament condemming this outrage.i want all muslim organisations in this country to publicly come out and condemm the pakistani goverement and maybe holds protests outside the pakistani embassy in london in defence of this man.also i want tell mama to come out and condemm this outrage as blatant christianaphobia attack on the christian community in pakistan.
I very much doubt he’s a Christian as he’s called Mohammed.
There’s a larger Christian population in Arabic and Asian countries than you’d think. That’s kind of like saying you can’t be Jewish if your name isn’t Ishmael. The report admittedly doesn’t say what religion he is but it does mention a Christian girl called Rimsha who was persecuted in Pakistan. Of course, the BBC has to be hyper-PC and careful when it’s reporting on Islam and Pakistan (unlike its output on white Westerners when they can say whatever the hell they like) so the country’s venomously theocratic treatment of people who don’t subscribe to their ridiculously outdated beliefs can only be described as “highly sensitive” instead of, say, “FUBAR.”
An apostate as well!! Execute him twice!!
He is British then? So he ought to realise that other cultures are more significant than British culture and that he should abide by their rules. The BBC, centre of ethical relativism, are therefore obliged to accept the verdict. A bit tough for civilised British people to accept, so best not report it. I will look for the story on Fox News
There are 3 possible reasons for this man to claim to be a prophet.
1) He’s insane. This seems most likely but they won’t accept the medical evidence suggesting that that is indeed the case, not sure why.
2) He’s sane and knowingly committing blasphemy in a country where it carries the death penalty. This doesn’t seem likely. There are easier ways to kill yourself and it doesn’t appear to be a political point.
3) He actually is some kind of prophet. He claimed to be ‘a’ prophet not ‘the’ prophet (pbuh).
I would like to know how they went about disproving no.3 in keeping with the evidential standards required in a court of law.
No need for proof…Muhammed is the ‘Seal of the Prophets’, the last of the line…therefore there can be no more.
Islam is carefully designed to keep you trapped in the religion and to ensure no other religion can claim to supersede Islam….therefore Islam reigns supreme.
But this man is surely only a Pakistani who happens to hold British passport (unfortunately). He is not a “Briton” as such.
Surely a Briton is an ethnic group.
If my children are born in Hong Kong this does not make them Chinese.
You know the BBC, though. Anyone with a British passport is British in their eyes, except of course ex-pats or war vets being denied benefits.
Regardless, it’s not really relevant here. His treatment is still complete bullshit.
The soft racism of lowered expectations will dictate coverage.
Eh, its here on the front of the newspage:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25874580
And linked to it are these:
Pakistani ‘blasphemy’ girl in Canada
Jailed British Ahmadi in Pakistan blasphemy appeal
Q&A: Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws
How does this fit with your narrative?
And radio/TV coverage…..?
oh you mean this BBC website report:
‘Blasphemy case: Briton in Pakistan sentenced to death’
….as mentioned in the post……but not on any news broadcast…as mentioned in the post…..first I heard of it was on the website…again as mentioned in the post….
…did you not read the post? Does help if you’re going to comment on it.
A little touchy there Al….probably best not to accuse others of being stupid given your reputation.
Let’s recap what you wrote though shall we, and see who looks stupid:
‘Curiously the first I heard of this case was, well 2 minutes ago….not heard anything on the radio at all.’
‘Yep…it’s the second, just checked the iPlayer…not in Today’s running order and certainly wasn’t in the news bulletins.’
But hey ho, let’s ignore that bit, you’re allowed to make mistakes Alan.
You’ve clearly suggested the BBC hasn’t reported that on TV and radio because it doesnt want to give bad publicity to Islam/Muslims. Now, given the choice of which stories to cover on which bulletins is subjective and might include factors other than their own views about Islam/Muslims, an is somthing you can’t provide evidence of, doesn’t it kinda negate your point when its on the front page of the website?
It’s the 5th most shared story, and the 7th most read.
Its obviously not so easy to check every tv & radio bulletin, but perhaps you’d address the point. And explain how other new sources, not known to be particulalry keen on Muslims/Islam don’t appear to be giving it as much coverage as the BBC?
dodgy yumon rights lawyers. they should know our laws dont apply in foreign countries and they should respect local laws and customs.
Plus hes scottish. why do they want the UK government getting involved. Its a job for super salmond
Assuming he is a Muslim, you can picture the scene in the BBC hive though as they realised they were about to disappear up their own orifices if they had to report that one of their British poster boy “victims” had been sentenced to death by his Pakistanis Muslims brothers.
The story is buried way down in the Daily Mail. I’m totally sick of the DM’s pro-Muslim bias!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
I saw this earlier today when I was looking for any ‘news’ on Afghanistan. Sadly, nothing current was going on, or more to the point, newsworthy. Well, not since their favorite Taliban checked in the Hotel Afterlife with one of his many virgins.
Ho hum !