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Man arrested for blasphemy
07/06/2006 16:23 - (SA)
Karachi - A Pakistani man whose family says he is mentally unstable has been arrested for blasphemy, accused of desecrating the Muslim holy book, police said on Wednesday.
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and
treat each book with deep reverence. Desecrating the Koran is
against the law in predominantly Muslim Pakistan and is
punishable by death under Islamic law.
The suspect, Shahzad Samiullah, 36, was arrested on Tuesday after a mob turned violent and tried to attack him in a poor part of Karachi city, police said.
A neighbour said Samiullah had put a copy of the Koran on
the ground, stepped on it and tried to set it alight, police
said.
"His parents came to see him in jail and they say he is
abnormal," investigating police officer Mohammad Amin told
Reuters.
"But they have to produce medical evidence to prove
this."
'Instigated by the Devil'
Before a Karachi court ordered him detained on Wednesday,
Samiullah said he came from a religious family.
"I don't know what happened to me. I don't know why I did
this. I felt like I was instigated by the Devil," a sobbing
Samiullah told Reuters outside the court.
Blasphemy cases are relatively common in Pakistan, although
no one has ever been executed for it. Human rights groups
criticise the law against blasphemy, saying it is often abused
to settle disputes or religious rivalry.
A report in a US magazine last year that US military
interrogators had desecrated the Koran while questioning
detained militant suspects led to protests in Pakistan and
neighbouring Afghanistan.
- Reuters
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