Two years ago, Riaz Ahmed, now 34, and Ijaz Ahmed, 38, claimed to have seen God. Due to the vagaries of religion, such a claim may mark someone as supremely devout, or possibly a little loopy.
But in Pakistan, where even something as innocuous as quoting the Qur’an can get you in trouble with the law, seeing God marks you for death under the country’s blasphemy law.
Judge Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal on Saturday awarded death sentences to two men he found guilty of blasphemy.
Qari Muhammad Ahmed, 27, the complainant, a resident of Haroonabad, said that the convicts had also invited other people to join them in their union with God through Chaman Sarkar.
Malik Ghulam Qasim, the defense lawyer, told The Express Tribune that he would continue to fight against a law that could be easily misused to victimize innocent people.
“I tried my best to defend them,” Qasim said. “We seriously need to reconsider the blasphemy law and its enforcement.”
The Freethinker has more.
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