Adnan Prince is in his mid 30s and a Christian by faith. Accused of committing blasphemy in the last quarter of 2013, he has been granted bail by the Lahore High Court a few weeks ago. Even after getting bail, he is not a free person yet. He is hiding in some secret place. The challenges to appear before the court for his on-going trial amid security concerns are also persistent.
He is only one among the many blasphemy-accused victims languishing in jails or suffering from fear and threats once they are out. According to the police report, Prince has been accused of "drawing lines on a book and writing derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)."
"Since his bail, most people are not accepting or giving shelter to Prince. He is in a miserable condition as his case is still pending," says Nadeem Anthony, an activist and advocate helping him.
People accused of blasphemy in Pakistan face serious threats from extremist elements in and outside jails even after they have been acquitted. Getting bails in such cases is considered a rare relief as the incidence of granting bails is very low. While, in jails, under-trial inmates are vulnerable to attacks from other prisoners and even jail staff because of religious sentiments. The jail authorities are compelled to put them in solitary confinement.
In 2014, Muhammad Saqib, a mentally ill person who claimed to be a prophet was brutally attacked by a death-row prisoner in Central Jail, Gujranwala. A year later, in Adiala jail Rawalpindi a duty guard said he had a ‘dream’ prompting him to kill a prisoner named Muhammad Asghar, a 70-year old alleged blasphemer and according to his family, a mentally ill British national.
In 2009, the Gujrat police arrested composers of an allegedly blasphemous book. A few days later, one guard fired at and killed one of those accused in police custody. In 2003, a Christian, Samuel Masih was booked for blasphemy and later killed by a constable in Lahore whilst in police custody. In 2002, a Muslim cleric, Yousaf Ali, was charged for committing blasphemy in Lahore. He was sentenced to death but shot dead in jail the same year.
Read also:Procedural matter
Inmates accused of blasphemy are more vulnerable than prisoners on death row because they are not even allowed to walk or breathe in fresh air within a jail. And there is no proper monitoring. To add to this, in courts, the ideological leanings of the judiciary and certain pressures that come with the blasphemy issue delays such cases.
"The real problem with blasphemy accusations in Pakistan now is that an accusation itself is considered a conviction; hence an acquittal does not make the accused any safer. Individuals have been killed during trial and post acquittal. The state has consistently failed to protect the accused, the lawyers and even judges," says Saroop Ijaz, human rights activist and lawyer.
"Those who incite and inflict violence in the name of blasphemy accusations do not care for the law, not even for blasphemy law, otherwise a trial and acquittal should be the end of the matter," he adds.
Junaid Hafeez, a young university lecturer and a graduate from the US, was accused of blasphemy and is languishing in jail since 2013 amid serious security concerns. His lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was murdered for pleading his case.
In another major case involving alleged misuse of blasphemy laws, a poor Christian woman, Asia Bibi, is in solitary confinement in jail. She is not even allowed to walk outside her death cell. Her appeal against death penalty is pending before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. She was sentenced to death in 2010 for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) following an argument with Muslim women in a village in Punjab.
Ijaz says the government’s rhetoric and the recent weaponisation of blasphemy will only make this situation more dangerous. "Blasphemy has become a social offence as much as it is a legal offence; and in the prevailing environment it is nearly impossible for a blasphemy-accused to be acquitted and live without fear in Pakistan primarily because the government is unable and unwilling to protect," he maintains.