Judge silent as lawyers receive death threats in court

LAWYERS representing a man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan’s Punjab province have been subject to death threats inside the courtroom at Multan Central Prison, writes Ellen Teague.

Two lawyers, Rashid Rehman and Allah Dad, said the judge overseeing the case of Junaid Hafeez, an academic who is accused of publishing an offensive drawing of Muhammad on Facebook last year, did nothing to intervene.

“During arguments for acquittal of the accused, four persons addressed Rehman in the judge’s presence and said, ‘You will not come to court next time because you will not exist any more’,” Allah Dad reported.

“We have been harassed continuously by extremists who gather outside the jail after every hearing and chant slogans against us and our client.”

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has expressed serious concern over the intimidation. Last year, two lawyers defending the lecturer abandoned the case after receiving death threats.

“The difficulty that the accused has had in finding and retaining a lawyer is well known,” said the commission, urging that those making threats should face prosecution and that defence lawyers should receive adequate security. On 27 March a Catholic, Sawan Masih, was sentenced to death for blasphemy, and on
4 April Christians Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife, Shagufta Kausar, were sentenced to death, all on fabricated evidence.

(See John Pontifex, page 24.)