Man gets death, fine for blasphemy
By Shahid Hussain
LAHORE: An additional district and sessions court Saturday awarded death sentence and Rs 2,70,000 fine to Wajih-ul-Hassan in a blasphemy case here. Wajih was awarded capital punishment along with 10-year imprisonment under Section 295-A and three-year imprisonment under Section 298-A, which will run consecutively.
Announcing verdict, the court observed that Wajih was not given benefit of Section 382-CrPC because the court did not take lenient view in the blasphemy case and also, it was not permitted in Islam. The court said every society was governed by laws which were essential to regulate life. “Absolute freedom exists only in jungle and societies need laws to regulate and protect life.” The court observed that the Islamic Shariah laid down precise and effective laws to deal with anti-social elements.
The Shariah encourages healthy behaviour, but it also prescribes severe punishment for such crimes as blasphemy, apostasy, adultery, murder, hypocrisy in faith, spying, stealing, etc. Such crimes and their perpetrators are considered a poison for the entire society. “In Islam, there are clear rules and regulations to check every kind of mischief and the Shariah shows no leniency to those whose evil and malicious conduct tarnishes the dignity and honour of the Ummah.”
Wajih-ul-Hassan was arrested on May 25, 2001 by the Iqbal Town police, following an FIR registered on March 21, 1999 on the complaint of Ismail Qureshi, former president of Lahore High Court Bar Association and Chairman of World Association of Muslim Jurists. Qureshi alleged that Wajih sent him letters full of filthy language against Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his wives and companions.
Wajih was indicted on August 16, 2001, but he pleaded not guilty. As many as 11 witnesses appeared against him. They were Muhammad Waseem, Muhammad Naveed, Waseem Qureshi, Atiq-ur-Rehman, Mumtaz Hussain, Ismail Qureshi, Muhammad Mansha, Saeed Khursheed, Muhammad Bashir Qureshi, Shehzad Kamal and Hassan Nawaz Tarrar.
According to the complainant, he received some letters in six weeks in which derogatory remarks were passed against the Holy Prophet. He tried to trace out the accused, but he was found nowhere. He again received a letter on October 21, 1998 in which the accused used the language which a Muslim could never do. On November 3, he received a call from him and he moved an application to keep his telephones under observation.
The next day, he received another call which was traced. He then came to know that Raja Wajih-ul-Hassan, a Christian convert and known as Murshid Masih, had written the letters. He got an FIR registered and Wajih was arrested after 14 months. He was initially tried by an anti-terrorism court, but, due to changes in law, his case was transferred to the sessions court.
In its judgement on Saturday, the sessions court observed that Wajih made an extra-judicial confessional statement before prosecution witnesses Waseem, manager of Crown Steel, and his friend Naveed, that he had been converted to Mirzait. He also confessed before them that he wrote the letters to Ismail Qureshi in which derogatory language was used against the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
The letters were sent to handwriting experts who opined that the writing had identical characteristics. The court observed that Wajih remained fugitive for 14 months and the defence version was not true. All circumstances lead to the conclusion that Wajih wrote the letters and despatched them to Ismail Qureshi. Wajih stated before the court that he “is a Muslim and all the allegations levelled against him are false”. He said the motive behind the incident was that an FIR was registered by human rights activists Asma Jehangir and Hina Jillani against Ismail Qureshi after which he nursed grudge against her and tried to involve her in the case through him.
He said he and his father worked in the office of Asma Jehangir’s husband. After some time, he left the office and joined the Crown Steel where Waseem Mughal (prosecution witness) was manager. He left that job and joined Tableeghi Jamaat for four months. During that time, Waseem called him on telephone for a meeting 15 days prior to his arrest. “When I reached the meeting spot, I found Naveed (PW) and advocate Mustafa who took me to Lahore Cantt and tortured. I was confined for 15 days during which they came up with some letters and forced me to confess that these letters were written by me,” he said, adding that they also forced me to admit that those letters were written by Asma Jehangir.
It is worth-mentioning that Ismail Qureshi is the author of a book, Namoos-e-Rasul, and Law of Contempt of Holy Prophet (PBUH). He conducted many blasphemy cases. Some cases were registered against him on the allegation that some young men attempted to murder Asma Jehangir and Hina Jillani after reading his books. Wajih-ul-Hassan was taken to the court in tight security. A number of police officials were deployed on court premises. They did not let anybody meet Wajih. While being taken to jail, Wajih talked to mediamen and said he was a true muslim and had not written any blasphemous matter.