(PPF/IFEX) – On 8 July, the Additional District and Sessions Judge Sardar Irshad convicted Munawar Mohsin, sub-editor of the Peshawar-based “Frontier Post”, of blasphemy and sentenced him to life imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 rupees (approx. US$860). The judge held Mohsin responsible for the newspaper’s publication of a blasphemous letter on 29 January 2001, […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 8 July, the Additional District and Sessions Judge Sardar Irshad convicted Munawar Mohsin, sub-editor of the Peshawar-based “Frontier Post”, of blasphemy and sentenced him to life imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 rupees (approx. US$860).
The judge held Mohsin responsible for the newspaper’s publication of a blasphemous letter on 29 January 2001, which resulted in violent demonstrations in Peshawar. Mohsin has been detained since the day of the letter’s publication.
The court acquitted the two other defendants, Aftab Ahmad, the newspaper’s former news editor, and Wajeehul Hassan, a computer operator, as the prosecution could not prove its case against them. The court also declared the newspaper’s editor, Mahmood Shah Afridi, a proclaimed offender and issued a perpetual arrest warrant. The presiding judge observed that a prima facie case existed against Afridi.
The blasphemous letter, purportedly written by a person named Ben Dzec, appeared in the newspaper’s letters to the editor section. In the letter, derogatory remarks were made against the Prophet Mohammed.
The next day, a violent mob set the newspaper’s printing press on fire and damaged other buildings, including a cinema. Publication of the newspaper was suspended for several months after these events.
The defendant, Mohsin, was a drug addict and had escaped from the Peshawar Mental Hospital a few days before the letter’s publication. The commission of judicial inquiry set up by the North West Frontier Province government observed in its report that Mohsin’s mental condition was not sound. The commission added that an addict and mentally ill person should not have been given responsibility for the letters to the editor section.
The court examined 11 prosecution witnesses. However, the court relied mainly on Mohsin’s confession statement. The trial judge did not accept the view that the defendant was mentally ill and a drug addict since the investigation officer had not touched on that point during the course of the investigation. The court observed that during the trial the accused was not found to be abnormal and there was no evidence of his mental illness.
The trial judge held that the evidence on record showed that Mohsin intentionally and wilfully committed an offence under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). An appeal to a higher court is expected.
