PAKISTAN – Woman stands trial for 'blasphemy'
19/02/07
Court hearing relocated to deter mob violence
Pakistani officials have relocated the trial of a Christian woman accused of blaspheming Muhammad, the "prophet" of Islam, to prevent violent demonstrations.
Judge Rao Abdel Jabar has agreed to preside over the 17 February blasphemy hearing against Martha Bibi Masih in the district capital of Kasur, 28 miles south of Lahore, defence lawyer Ezra Shujat said.
He added that the trial had been moved from Chunian, near Masih's home village, because of the sensitive nature of the case.
Police arrested Martha in the early morning hours of 23 January after a violent mob stormed her house in the village of Kot Nanka Singh, the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) reported.
The riot was prompted by claims that Masih made insulting remarks about Islam's founder, her husband said in an interview with CLAAS the day of his wife's arrest.
Martha remains behind bars in Kasur's district jail, while her husband and five children have gone into hiding to avoid a revenge attack, defence lawyer Shujat told reporters.
"They are afraid and worried now," said Shujat, an activist with the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance.
"They can't work anywhere."
Accusations of blasphemy can be volatile in Pakistan, where Article 295-C of the penal code prescribes death for anyone guilty of defiling Muhammad.
Murders
Death sentences have always been overturned by higher courts, but at least 23 people suspected of blasphemy have been murdered.
Implying that tempers had not yet cooled in Martha's hometown, police requested her case be transferred to Kasur to prevent a "law and order situation," daily newspaper Dawn reported on 8 February.
In a 4 February article, an officer told Reuters that police had immediately shifted Martha to Kasur because people in her area were "very furious".
Martha's husband said the accusations against his wife were false and stemmed from a quarrel with a Muslim neighbour.
In a 23 January interview with CLAAS, Boota Masih explained how his wife had gone to a local mosque construction site on 22 January to retrieve materials she had let to the builders.
"She asked the people present to go inside [the mosque] and get bamboo [sticks] and logs out for her," Boota Masih said. "But nobody helped her."
As a Christian, she could not enter the mosque, her defence lawyer said.
When Martha asked a nearby shopkeeper to help her retrieve the materials, the woman refused, and the two exchanged harsh words, Boota told CLAAS.
The shopkeeper later told her husband, Muhammad Ramzan, that Martha had cursed Islam's prophet during their argument.
Mr Ramzan spread word among his neighbours that the Christian woman had committed blasphemy and gathered a mob to march on Martha's home at 10:00pm.
"We requested our neighbour, Muhammad Rashid Mughal, hide us in his home, which he allowed," Boota said.
The mob searched the couple's home for two hours but dispersed after failing to find the alleged blasphemer.
Absentee complainant
When Martha eventually left her neighbour's home early on the morning of 23 January, police arrested her and took her to the nearby city of Changa Manga.
Mr Ramzan's friend, Muhammad Dilbar, had lodged an FIR (First Information Report) against her with local police, accusing her under article 295-C.
"It's important to note that the complainant was not actually at the scene of the event," Shujat told reporters.
According to the defence lawyer, the district Superintendent of Police (SP) rubber-stamped the FIR without personally investigating the case.
"He just filled out the papers because [officially] it is only the SP who can investigate a [blasphemy] case," Shujat said.
"But I believe he has not investigated."
Local police reportedly weighed in on the investigation, telling Pakistani papers the week after her arrest that the Christian was guilty of blasphemy.
"We can't allow people to desecrate the name of the Holy Prophet. The complaint lodged against her was true," Changa Manga Station House Officer Reza Shah told Dawn on 2 February.
Officers at Changa Manga police station, none of whom spoke English, were unable to verify the accuracy of this statement for reporters.
In a 9 February letter to the editor posted at online news site Paktribune, one Lahore resident called on the Supreme Court to cancel the "appalling case against Martha Bibi."
"Even the most dim-witted Christian could not dare dream of even approaching anything remotely resembling blasphemy in Pakistan unless it was a novel way to commit suicide," wrote Professor Wasif M Khan.
Last month a senior Pakistani official, speaking in Paris about the condition of religious minorities in Pakistan, said the government hoped to amend the blasphemy laws.
"In sha' Allah [God willing], after the election" later this year, Sen Mushahid Hussain Sayed said when questioned if Islamabad would change the law, Reuters reported.
Government officials have made similar statements.
Most recently, State Minister Tariq Azim told minorities in December
they would "hear the 'good news' of amendments to the blasphemy law this Christmas," the Daily Times reported.
Concrete changes have yet to materialise.
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