Briton sentenced to death on blasphemy

A special court has sentenced a British man to death for blasphemy for claiming to be a prophet, police said on Friday.
Mohammad Asghar, a British national of Pakistani origin, was arrested in 2010 in Rawalpindi for writing letters claiming to be a prophet, police said.
The special court inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where Asghar is being held, rejected defence claims that the 65-year-old has mental health problems.
“Asghar claimed to be a prophet even inside the court. He confessed it in front of the judge,” Javed Gul, a government prosecutor, told a foreign news agency.
The court also ordered Asghar to pay a fine of one million rupees ($10,000).
A medical board examined Asghar after defence lawyers said he was suffering from some mental disorder, but they “declared him as a normal person,” Gul said.
The convict also failed to produce even a single witness in his defence, he added.
Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan where insulting the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) can carry the death penalty.
But since Pakistan has had a de facto moratorium on civilian hangings since 2008, there remains a doubt on carrying out the sentence.
Pakistan’s tough blasphemy laws have attracted criticism from rights groups, who say they are frequently abused to settle personal scores.
In 2012, Rimsha Masih, a young Christian girl, was arrested for alleged blasphemy in Islamabad.
The case provoked international concern because of her age, estimated at 14, and because she was variously described as “uneducated” or suffering from Down’s syndrome.
The charges against her were finally thrown out and she fled to Canada with her family in June 2013.
Even unverified allegations of blasphemy can incite a violent public response. There have been a number of cases where mobs have assaulted mentally ill people who have made allegedly blasphemous claims.