LAHORE (Halbeeg News) – Pakistani police have arrested four men charged with blasphemy after they argued with an ‘imam’ (religious cleric) over whether a funeral announcement for a Christian neighbour could be made from a mosque, officials say.
The case occurred in the village of Khodi Khushal Singh, near the eastern city of Lahore, on November 18, a local police official Faryad, who goes by one name, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“As soon as they arrived [at the mosque], they started cursing the mosque’s imam, they disrespected the mosque and they insulted Islam,” reads the report.
Blasphemy is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, where strict blasphemy laws prescribe a mandatory death penalty for certain forms of the crime.
The four men were charged under sections 295 and 298 of Pakistan’s penal code, which carry penalties of up to two years in prison.
Pakistan has never executed a convict under the blasphemy laws, but accusations of the offence have increasingly led to murder by mobs or individuals. Since 1990, at least 79 people have been killed in such violence, according to an Al Jazeera tally.
Discussion about this post