It sounds almost like something out of a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel — a 30-year-old man is sentenced to death for something he writes on a social media site such as Facebook. Except that the hard truth is that in this case, the sentence is real, and the man is named Taimoor Raza. The place where this just happened? Pakistan.
For decades, blasphemy has been punishable by death in Pakistan and several other Muslim countries. But ever since the period of martial law declared by the government of former Pakistani leader Zia-ul-Haq ended, this nation is where the practice occurs regularly, and often without any kind of legal sanction.
In Raza’s particular case, however, death was the official sentence handed down by Judge Shabbir Ahmed in a government anti-terrorism court for remarks Raza posted on Facebook about the Prophet Mohammed and his many wives and companions.
According to Shafiq Qureshi, one of the public prosecutors for the city of Bahawalpur, Raza had been debating Islam with a man named Muhammed Usman, who actually was a government agent. Raza then allegedly showed onlookers objectionable material related to his debate while at a bus terminal. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) says that Raza was one of 15 people — 10 Muslims and five non-Muslims — similarly charged in the last year.
Raza’s brother Waseem Abbas said that his family is “poor but literate” and belongs to a Shiite Muslim community, a sect which is in a minority in the majority Sunni country. Fida Hussain Rana, Raza’s lawyer, claimed that his client was innocent. “Two individuals … instigated Taimoor on Facebook Chat to get him to say things against the Prophet Muhammad. Taimoor never said anything blasphemous,” he said. Rana called the case “a miscarriage of justice.”
Human rights organizations point out that zealous defenders of Islam often take justice into their own hands in Pakistan, and there is never any punishment for making false accusations; those accused are virtually always assumed to be guilty. Raza’s alleged crime is the first such case to involve posting on social media.
In Pakistan, dozens of prisoners sit on death row for blasphemy, which is a capital crime that can incite riots and even extrajudicial killing. Pakistani authorities, seeking to crack down on dissent against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, have asked Facebook and Twitter to identify users posting blasphemous material — even those living outside the country — and have encouraged Pakistanis to report their fellow citizens for such crimes.
Usama Khilji, the director of freedom of speech non-governmental organization (NGO) Bolo Bhi, warned that asking people to report their neighbors would encourage “mob justice.” “Asking people to record cases of blasphemy online (means) the state’s responsibility is being transferred onto citizens,” he said.
Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan, the Pakistani Interior Minister, said that “Nothing can be greater than our religion to us… If social media platforms do not cooperate with us despite all our efforts, then we will take the strictest of measures against such platforms in the country.”
In May, the Pakistani government sent a mass text to millions of the country’s inhabitants warning them not to share blasphemous messages online. “The uploading and sharing of blasphemous content on the Internet is a punishable action under the law. Such content should be reported for legal action,” it read.
“The casual manner in which death sentences are handed in blasphemy cases coupled with the lack of orientation of Pakistani courts with technology makes this a very dangerous situation,” said Saroop Ijaz, a lawyer working for the Pakistani chapter of Human Rights Watch. “Such sentences will embolden those who want to wrongly frame people. The confusion between national security and religion is very alarming,” he said, noting that the court that handed down Raza’s sentence is an anti-terrorism court, as opposed to a normal court.
Nadia Rahman of Amnesty International’s Pakistan campaign said that Raza’s conviction sets a dangerous precedent. “No one should be hauled before an anti-terrorism court or any other court solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief online,” she stated.
Raza apparently isn’t the only social media user to be detained. The Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency also recently imprisoned dozens of people for the crime of posting “anti-military content.” These citizens included journalists and supporters of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) party, a major opposition force fighting against the Sharif government.
In a statement, Facebook said it was “deeply saddened and concerned” by Raza’s sentence. “We do not provide any government with direct access to people’s data,” it said via a spokesperson.
Among others on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan is Asia Bibi, a follower of the Christian faith who got into an argument with two Islamic women in a Punjabi village. Bibi is awaiting a long-delayed final appeal of her sentence in solitary confinement. Her original conviction was in 2010.
Organizations such as Amnesty International and HRCP say this year has been one of hardline oppression of freedom of speech on social media and on the Internet in general in Pakistan. In January, the government shut down websites and blogs belonging to four online activists who campaigned for religious freedom and human rights. The four were subsequently abducted by unknown captors and then released.
In April, a 23-year-old student at a northwestern Pakistani university named Mashal Khan was taken out of his dormitory and lynched by an angry mob brandishing sharpened sticks over accusations of blasphemy that later proved unfounded. The allegations had apparently been cooked up in a conspiracy between the university staff and certain students, according to an investigation into the matter by authorities.
In May, a mob rioted and attempted to storm the main police station in Balochistan over anger at a man being held there on blasphemy charges. In the course of the rioting, a 10-year-old boy lost his life. And in 2011, a provincial governor of Pakistan was shot and killed summarily by his own police guard after he harshly criticized his country’s laws and attempted to defend a Christian woman who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy.
According to HRCP, four people were given death sentences for blasphemy in the last year in Pakistan. Between 2011 and 2015, the country prosecuted 91 cases of blasphemy. While there are occasional anti-blasphemy law protests, the hardline government actions of the past few months are worrying developments in a part of the world where religion often trumps civil law in the eyes of judges and citizens. One can only hope that Taimoor Raza’s case will be reversed on appeal in the near future.
