Men jailed 10 weeks for pamphlet

Two brothers have been released after spending more than two months in jail, and their advocates worry that even police won't be able to protect them after they were accused of blasphemy, a charge local Muslims believe is sufficient for the death penalty, according to an international Christian ministry.

International Christian Concern says the brothers only recently were released from police custody in Pakistan, and there are high levels of concern for their future.

"These two brothers will face intense social pressure from Muslims who see even the accusation of blasphemy as reason enough for execution," said Jeremy Sewall, ICC's advocacy director.

"Until Pakistan can address this societal pressure, even the best policing in the world will not be able to protect Pakistani Christians," he said.

ICC said the brothers were released after two and a half months in jail. The release followed work by the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, a Christian legal group that works to negotiate "settlements" between Muslim accusers and Christians in that part of the world.

"Even the accusation of blasphemy can stigmatize a person in Pakistan for life, and Christian leaders fear that these two Christian men will not be able to continue their work and school due to this incident," ICC said.

The organization said the case developed when Naveed Aziz, 17, was accused Jan. 27 in Narrowal, Pakistan, by another student who had seen a pamphlet Aziz was carrying.

"The student told an instructor that Naveed was carrying 'blasphemous' material, and the teacher proceeded to search Naveed's bag, confiscate the pamphlet, and report him to the principal," ICC reported. "A group of angry Muslim students crowded the principal's office, demanding that Naveed be expelled from the school and handed over to police. The principal attempted to calm down the situation, but did agree to expel Naveed from the school."

Gossip about the situation soon, however, ran out of control, and a week later Muslim students from area schools rallied against the 17-year-old. Muslim activists persuaded a mob to seize Naveed and his brother, Pastor Shafiq Masih, 35, burn their home and stone them.

The two men were left alive when police intervened and took the brothers to prison, ICC said.

"This provides a rare case of Pakistani police defending Christian minorities, as the police did not permit the accusers to file a court case against the two men. Instead, when a Christian legal group came to investigate the situation, they found that police were attempting to allow a local 'Peace Committee' to negotiate an out-of-court agreement between the Muslim accusers and the two brothers," the organization said.

In another case documented by Compass Direct, two Christians were acquitted of the same blasphemy charge on appeal. The report said James Masih, 67, and Buta Masih, 72, had been accused of burning pages of the Quran in a 2006 incident in Pakistan.

The two explained the blasphemy charges were fabricated because of a dispute over a plot of land that a Muslim neighbor wanted James Masih to sell. The lawyer representing the men, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, reported he appeared in court 27 times during the appeal. The appearances were mostly for hearings in which court officials, apparently intimidated by Muslim factions, announced delays in the case.

The report noted that since 1986, there have been more than 20 deaths "in blasphemy-related violence."

WND has reported on plans that could impact comments on Islam worldwide. That could happen if Muslim-dominated nations at the United Nations who once again are pushing a religious "anti-defamation" plan succeed in barring worldwide all criticism of their founder Muhammad and his teaching.

Constitutional lawyer Floyd Abrams said, "What they would do would be to make it illegal to put out a movie or write a book or a poem that somebody could say was defamatory of Islam."

The 57 member nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference have lobbied since 1999 for the plan, which is based on the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam. The Cairo declaration states "that all rights are subject to Shariah law, and makes Shariah law the only source of reference for human rights."

The American Center for Law and Justice, in promoting its petition to raise awareness of the campaign, said, "The fact is this: The proposal, while purportedly to protect against 'defamation of religions,' is frequently used as a weapon to silence religious minorities, including Christians in many countries.

"The resolution actually targets anyone who speaks negatively in any way about Islam. Sharing your faith would become an international crime punishable by imprisonment – or death," the ACLJ said.

Fox News religion contributor Lauren Green previously reported the encroachment of the plan already.

"But you say, 'That can’t happen,' or 'that would be ludicrous.' The fact is, it's already happening. Christians and other minority religions in predominantly Islamic areas or countries are being persecuted to barbaric levels. Reports from Nairobi, Kenya, say that one aid worker was beheaded in September for converting from Islam to Christianity; the Iranian government has already passed a bill calling for execution on the basis of apostasy (anyone converting from Islam to another religion), and of course we've seen the violence that erupted over the Danish cartoon of the prophet Mohammed," Green said.