Posted on 04/25/2010 8:28:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Islamabad (AsiaNews) – A court in Kasur district, Punjab, convicted a Christian couple, Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi, to 25 years in prison. According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), judge Ajmal Hussein convicted the couple for touching the Qur‘an without washing their hands.
Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi were released on bail last January, but were re-arrested after the judge ruled against them. The husband was locked up in Kasur’s district prison; the wife was sent to the women’s prison in Multan. Both have started serving 25 years behind bars.
CLAAS, an association that fights for the rights of the poor and marginalised, said that the couple was accused of “contaminating” the Qur‘an when they touched it “without washing their hands”.
The incident, which dates back to December 2008, unleashed the fury of Muslim extremists who put pressure on police. Unconfirmed reports suggest that extremists paid off police agents to discover “new evidence” to justify the sentence.
At the end of the police investigation, husband and wife were charged with blasphemy.
The blasphemy law is the harshest tool for religious repression available in Pakistan. It was adopted in 1986 by then dictator Zia ul-Haq to protect Islam and its prophet, Muhammad, from attacks and insults.
In fact, it is actually comprised of sections 295-B and 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which respectively punish with life in prison anyone who defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Qur‘an, and imposes the death penalty on anyone who defiles the name of the Prophet Muhammad.
In the last two months, there were two more convictions against Christians in Pakistan.
On 11 January, a court in Faisalabad sentenced Imran Masih, a 26-year-old Christian man, to life imprisonment for insulting and desecrating the Koran. He was accused of deliberately burning Qur‘anic verses and an Arabic book in order “foment interfaith hatred and hurt the feelings of Muslims.”
On 25 February, a court in Karachi sentenced Qamar David, also a Christian, to life imprisonment for hurting the religious feelings of Muslims when he sent blasphemous SMS.
CLAAS announced that it was filing an appeal with the High Court in Lahore to have the 25-year sentence against Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi overturned.
But Muzzies have a constitutional right to work work in a restaurant handling your food without washing their hands.
Yes, I can provide an example. It is the United States. It is helping to imprison these Christians by giving massive amount of aid to prop up this regime. When are some freepers going to realize that policing the world only leads to blowback like this?
I don't think the two are related. Islam has been at war with the west and Christianity since it's inception.
The reason the U.S. is propping up regimes in the Middle East, if you will remember, is because Britain conquered the area during the World Wars and decided to install dictators.
What Britain should have done is installed Christian theocracies, until the culture had so completely changed that they could embrace secular democracies.
We failed to support the Shaw of Iran, and Now Iran is one of the biggest terrorist sponsoring states. How is that blow back?
It's not the policing of the areas. It's the failure to institute significant cultural reform.
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During my life there are two books I read and threw in the garbage: Mein Kampf and the Quran.
They’re basically the same book. And it was a pleasure to toss them.
It’s the religion of SATAN.
You really should wear gloves when handling something as vile as a koran.
The single greatest source of evil on Earth is the demon mohammed, all curses and animal waste be upon him, and his insane blood thirsty cultists.
25 years should be long enough to convert those filthy Christians to the religion of peace. If not, then simply behead them. (sarc)
Can you imagine how outrageously the left would react if a Bible belt state (like Tennessee) imposed even a $50 fine for handling a Bible with dirty hands?
“You really should wear gloves when handling something as vile as a koran.”
you could protect yourself by rubbing pork fat on your hands before handling it.
These people make the Pharisees look like the Care Bears.
Considering Bibles are carried by soldiers in the field, you can be assured God doesn’t mind if it gets excessive use.
Did the Nazis throw people in prison for touching Mein Kampf with dirty hands? If they didn’t, this is yet further evidence that Islam is even worse than Nazism (but allied).
Ild like for the judge to come here to the US to watch me take a crap on a koran.
Touch a Koran with dirty hands: 25 years in prison.
Submerge a Christian cross in urine: Get a grant from the NEA.
“I came home one day from work and some missionary-type had left a copy of the Koran attached to my screen door.”
Free toilet paper.
One would almost expect islam began in Ithaca, NY.
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