Mohammad Younus Shaikh (or Younis Sheik or Younis Sheikh) (born 1965) is a hotel manager and writer in Kharadar, Pakistan. In 2005, he wrote a book: "Shaitan Maulvi" (Satanic Cleric). On account of that book, the police charged Shaikh with offences under Pakistan's Penal Code and under the Anti-terrorism Act. An anti-terrorism court found Shaikh guilty of those offences, and sentenced him to a fine and to life in prison.[1] Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience and called for his immediate release.[2]

Personal details

Shaikh is a matriculate but he has not had any religious education.[1]

The offence

On 3 February 2005, Shaikh was distributing copies of his book when he came to the attention of Sub-inspector Gulzar Ahmed Khokhar. The Sub-inspector arrested Shaikh for violating Sections 153A, 295A, and 295B of the Pakistan Penal Code, and Sections 8 and 9 of the Anti-terrorism Act.[1] The police placed Shaikh in solitary confinement in Karachi Central Prison to prevent other inmates from attacking him.[2]

At trial, the special public prosecutor proved that Shaikh had committed blasphemy by writing that stoning to death (Rajm) as a punishment for adultery was not mentioned in the Quran, and by insulting four historical Imams (religious leaders) by describing them as "Jews".[2]

On 11 August 2005, Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Anti-Terrorist Court found Shaikh guilty of "defiling a copy of the Quran, outraging religious feelings and propagating religious hatred among society".[3] The judge imposed upon Shaikh a fine of 100,000 rupees, and sentenced him to spend his life in jail.[1]

In 2007, a blogger reported that Shaikh appealed his conviction to the High Court, and won the right to a new trial.[4]

At least one observer, legal historian Sadakat Kadri, has noted the case as an example of the "mean spirit" of some anti-blaspheme campaigners, as, in fact Shaikh is correct that nowhere in the Quran is stoning to death (rajm) called for to punish the sin of adultery or fornication (zina).[5] (The Quran mentions only lashing as a punishment for zina. It is a hadith (the collections of the reports claiming to quote what the prophet Muhammad said) that call for rajm.[5])

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "KARACHI: Writer of sacrilegious book gets life term". Dawn the Internet Edition. 12 August 2005. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Document - Pakistan: Fear for safety/ Prisoner of Conscience (POC), Mohammed Younus Shaikh". Amnesty International. 19 August 2005. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  3. ↑ "Writer in Pakistan given life for "blasphemy"". National Secular Society. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  4. ↑ "Writer gets life for defiling the Koran". 29 July 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
  5. 1 2 Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-4668-0218-6.
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