Showing posts with label court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label court. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Court Clears 112 Suspected of Torching Christian Homes - MUBASHER BUKHARI/REUTERS

Police beat and detain a Pakistani Christian protester during a demonstration against Saturday's burning of Christian houses and belongings in Badami Bagh, Lahore, March 10, 2013. (Reuters (File Photo))

Court Clears 112 Suspected of Torching Christian Homes

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A Pakistani court acquitted 112 suspects in the 2013 torching of hundreds of Christian homes in the eastern city of Lahore over a rumor that one of the residents there had blasphemed, a lawyer said on Sunday.
In March 2013, more than 125 homes in Lahore's Josep Colony were burned by a mob of more than 3,000 Muslims responding to rumors that a local Christian man, Sawan Masih, had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad.
No one was killed in the incident but there was widespread damage to the property of the mostly destitute Christians living in the neighborhood. Two churches and dozens of Bibles were also desecrated in the attack.
Defense lawyer Ghulam Murtaza Chaudhry said an anti-terrorism court in Lahore had acquitted 112 people accused of torching and ransacking hundreds of houses.
"They were acquitted by the court because of lack of evidences against them," Murtaza told Reuters. "The state witnesses could not identify the accused and their statements were also contradictory."
All 112 suspects were already out on bail.
A road sweeper in his late twenties, Sawan Masih told police after his arrest on blasphemy charges that the real reason for the blasphemy allegation was a property dispute between him and a friend who spread the rumor.
In Pakistan, conviction under the blasphemy laws can carry a mandatory death sentence.
Masih was sentenced to death in 2014, a decision he has appealed.
Critics of Pakistan's blasphemy laws say they have long been used by individuals and religious groups to settle disputes.
This month, the Pakistani Senate's human rights panel said it would debate how to prevent the country's blasphemy laws being applied unfairly, the first time in decades that any parliamentary body had considered a formal proposal to stop the abuse of the blasphemy laws.
Many conservatives in Pakistan consider even criticizing the laws as blasphemy, and in 2011 a Pakistani governor, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard after calling for reform of the laws.
His killer, Mumtaz Qadri, was hailed as a hero by religious hard-liners. Tens of thousands of supporters attended his funeral after he was executed last year and a shrine was built over his grave soon after his burial.
Hundreds of Pakistanis are on death row for blasphemy convictions. 
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Sunday, March 15, 2015

Jerusalem Court: Jews Can Pray on Temple Mount

Jerusalem Court: Jews Can Pray on Temple Mount

Sunday, March 15, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court reaffirmed earlier this month that it is legal for Jews (and, therefore, Christians) to pray atop the Temple Mount, despite violent Muslim opposition.
That legal clarification came as part of a decision in the case of activist Yehudah Glick, who sued the Israel Police for banning him from the Temple Mount for a period of two years after he was filmed quietly uttering prayers while visiting the holy site in 2011.
Glick, who survived a recent assassination attempt by a Muslim terrorist, charged the police with failing to uphold Israel’s laws regarding freedom of religious expression.

Don’t miss our interview with Yehudah Glick in the upcoming April issue of Israel Today Magazine. SUBSCRIBE NOW >>

Israel’s Supreme Court had previously ruled that Jews do in fact have the right to pray in any and every place, as do adherents of all faiths, but that police could take measures to avoid violent Muslim backlashes atop the Temple Mount.
The Jerusalem court determined that the police had gone too far in its handling of Glick and other activists, and had crossed the line by impinging on Jews’ basic human rights.
Glick was awarded nearly USD $150,000 in damages. His lawyer further told The Jerusalem Postthat the ruling meant that “starting from today, all Jews are allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. There is no longer any crime in prayer itself.”
Still, many remained skeptical that non-Muslims would now be permitted to openly pray and worship atop the Temple Mount, especially after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year assured the Muslim world that Israel would maintain the status quo there.

In the upcoming April issue of Israel Today Magazine, we spoke with Glick regarding the attempt on his life and his continued commitment to bringing Jewish prayer and worship back to the Temple courts. You don't want to miss it. SUBSCRIBE NOW >>

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