Pakistan: Violent Islamist Gang Traps Innocent People Into Blasphemy Charges, Human Rights Lawyers Say
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – An Islamist gang in Pakistan has targeted and trapped more than 450 people, including Christians, into being wrongfully charged with blasphemy, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
During a January 10 press conference in Islamabad, Pakistani human rights attorneys Usman Warraich, Imaan Hazir-Mazari, and Rana Abdul Hameed said the “blasphemy business group” has wreaked devastation on people’s lives – with the collusion of government authorities.
Citing a report by the Special Branch of the Punjab Police last year attorneys explained that the gang publishes blasphemous content and then files false charges against families whom they then blackmail for large amounts of money in return for the charge being dropped, MSN reports.
The attorneys added that a separate report by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) in October shows how innocent people were being entrapped with the active involvement of officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), MSN reports.
Describing some of what victims of the scheme are subjected to, Attorney Warraich said: “Several young victims honey-trapped by this gang have revealed that when they came to the said house, they were stripped naked and tortured by the gang members who also videotaped their ordeal. There are about 25-30 people associated with this gang who become plaintiffs after trapping youths from all over Pakistan. Each plaintiff is involved in trapping more than 20 youths.”
“An orphan boy named Syed Ali Hasnain was killed in Adiala Jail. A young man from Rawalpindi, Syed Abdullah Shah, was tortured and murdered by this group in collaboration with the FIA,” Warraich added. “Fatima Jahangir died in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, while another 22-year-old boy, Safeer Ullah, lost his life in Camp Jail, Lahore.”
Ruled by an Islamic regime which promotes harsh blasphemy laws, Pakistan ranks 7 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
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