PAKISTAN: TWO GET DEATH SENTENCE IN BLASPHEMY CASE

December 28, 2013: In Pakistan, additional Sessions Judge Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal awarded death sentences to two men he found guilty of blasphemy.
According to the prosecution, Riaz Ahmed, 34, and Ijaz Ahmed, 38, residents of Haroonabad, devotees of Chaman Sarkar (apparently a local religious leader) in Gujrat district, had claimed in 2011 that they had seen God.
Qari Muhammad Ahmed, 27, the complainant, a resident of Haroonabad, said that the convicts had also invited other people to join them in their union with God through Chaman Sarkar.
Malik Ghulam Qasim, the defence lawyer, told The Express Tribune that he would continue to fight against a law that could be easily misused to victimise innocent people. “I tried my best to defend them,” Qasim said. “We seriously need to reconsider the blasphemy law and its enforcement,” he added.
Judge Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal also fined the convicts Rs100,000 (about 950 USD) each. (Sources: The Express Tribune, 29/12/2013)