Blasphemous writer gets life term
Karachi:The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), on Monday handed down a blasphemous writer a life term as well as other sentences, having found him guilty of the offence of defiling a copy of the Holy Quran, outraging religious feelings and propagating religious hatred among society.
The ATC judge, Syed Saghir Hussain Zaidi sentenced Younus Sheikh to life imprisonment under section 295-B of the PPC, awarded 10 years in prison under section 295-A with a fine of Rs50,000, ordering that, in default, he shall have to suffer a further six-month term. The court also sentenced him to five years in prison under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) with a fine of Rs50,000.
Sheikh was arrested by police in January 2005 for writing a book against the Islamic laws deviating from the teaching of Quran and Sunnah. The accused had negated the punishment of Rajam (Stoning to death in case of adultery) in his book and wrote contemptuous remarks against Imams of Fiqah.
Eight copies of his book out of 5,000 published books were recovered from his possession at the time of arrest. The case was registered against him under section 153-A, 295-A and 295-B of the PPC and section 8 and 9 of the ATA in Kharadar police station.
Sheikh, 41, stated to be a matriculate with no religious education, however, confessed to writing the book in his statement before the court. The prosecution placed eight witnesses including four religious scholars of Muslim schools, who unanimously issued a Fatwa (religious edict) against the accused after perusing the book, written by the accused, to prove the guilt of the accused.
Earlier, the ATC had sentenced Younus Sheikh to life imprisonment but the Sindh High Court, disposing of his appeal against conviction under blasphemy charges, remanded back his case for retrial from the stage of final arguments.
Source: The News
Date:7/24/2007
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