More Reaction  in the acquittal of Dr Younis Sheikh !   

Dr Younus Shaikh

Dr Younus Shaikh

 

Indeed we rejoice the news dear athiest, Infact he was and people like him are in my thoughts and I started this thread long back for those who have been wronged in the name of religion. specially Islam..

http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7140&highlight=#7140

And many of the forums and sites like FFI have played a stellar role of advertising and educating Muslims and nonmuslims alike...

My only hope is.. I will not hear a news like.. Some Mohammadonian barbarian took away the life Dr Younis Sheikh in that country that is called LAND OF PURE...I wish he could get out of that country and stay away for couple years...

with best wishes
yeezevee


Excellent.. good news!

adnan
 


Fantastic!!!!!

Best news I've heard for some time. Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
_________________
Scandinavian infidel


Great news indeed.

MrHappy


You beat me to it! I got an email with the info from Humanists' Association of Canada. I will post it below.

 
Quote:
IHEU Press Release London 23rd January 2004

For Immediate Release


Blasphemy Doctor Released from Death Row

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) announced today that Dr Younus Shaikh, who had languished in gaol in Pakistan since October 2000 under sentence of death for blasphemy, has been acquitted and freed after an appeal and retrial.

In an international campaign led by IHEU, Dr Shaikh was declared a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International, and thousands of people worldwide lobbied their politicians and the Government of Pakistan on his behalf.

The trial of Dr Shaikh, held throughout the Summer of 2001, took place in a hostile courtroom packed with Islamic fundamentalists. The final two
sessions were held in-camera with gun-toting Pakistani Taliban waiting
outside. In October 2003, the Appeal Court ordered a retrial at which,
following threats by fundamentalists to his lawyers and their families, Dr
Shaikh courageously pleaded his own case

Speaking from London today, Dr Shaikh explained:
�The judge accepted my legal arguments and found the charges against me to be baseless. My accusers, two Mullahs and some Islamist students, had lied.� He described his ordeal as: �Islamic terrorism through the abuse of law and the state apparatus.�

IHEU condemns the abuse, false imprisonment and mistreatment of this
courageous and innocent man forced to spend over three years in prison, two in the death cell in solitary confinement.

Pakistan�s infamous blasphemy laws are widely abused to make false
accusations against both Muslims and members of religious minorities, such
as Christians and Ahmadis, as well as innocent business rivals and political
opponents. Those accused under the blasphemy laws are immediately imprisoned with no effective right to bail. If pronounced guilty, they face a mandatory death sentence. It is estimated that over 100 victims of Pakistan�s medieval blasphemy laws are currently in prison either awaiting trial or already under sentence of death.

The international Humanist community calls upon President Parvez Musharraf and the Pakistani Parliament to immediately abolish these profoundly unjust laws � an ugly stain on the reputation of the nation and people of Pakistan.

For further information call:
IHEU President, Roy Brown on +41 (0) 79 212 5603
IHEU office at +44 (0) 207 631 3170
IHEU Executive Director, Babu Gogineni on +44 (0) 7801 570 150

----------

Background to IHEU Press Release 23 Jan 2004

Blasphemy Doctor, Younus Shaikh released from Death Row


Dr Shaikh
Mohammed Younus Shaikh was born in Chishtian, Pakistan on 30th May 1952. After High School he studied medicine in Multan where he qualified as a doctor of medicine, and did post-graduate studies in Dublin and London. He worked as a trainee surgeon in the United Kingdom from 1981 until 1988. He returned to Pakistan where he taught at a medical college in Islamabad.

As a Human Rights activist in Pakistan he attracted the attention of the
Islamic fundamentalists. He took part in the Pakistan-India Forum for Peace and Democracy, and was a member of the South Asian Fraternity, South Asian Union and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. In 1990 he started a Humanist organisation called �The Enlightenment�, inspired by the ideas of the European Enlightenment and Renaissance.

Kashmir

At a meeting of the South Asian Union on 1st October 2000, Younus Shaikh
suggested that in the interest of the people of Kashmir, the line of control
between the Indian and Pakistani forces should become the international
border. This clearly offended a Pakistani officer who responded by saying to Dr Shaikh that �I will crush the heads of those that talk like this�.

On 3rd October Dr Shaikh was suspended by the college without explanation. It transpired that an employee of the Pakistani Foreign Office, who was also one of Dr Shaikh�s students, had complained to a cleric, saying that on 2nd October in a lecture between 12:00 noon and 12:40pm, the doctor had made blasphemous remarks about the Prophet of Islam. The cleric filed a complaint with the police, and Younus Shaikh was arrested on the evening of 4th October and charged with blasphemy.

Trial and Acquittal

Those accused of blasphemy under Article 295/c of the Pakistan Legal Code are unable to obtain bail but are held in custody awaiting trial. On 18th August 2001, after a trial lasting several months during which it was
established that the alleged events had never taken place, Dr Shaikh was
nevertheless found guilty and sentenced to death. Sadly, in Pakistan, such
injustices are not uncommon in cases of alleged blasphemy.

For the next two years, Dr Shaikh was held in solitary confinement in a
death cell in the Central Gaol in Rawalpindi. He appealed to the High Court,
but on 15th July 2002 the two appeal judges failed to agree and the case was referred to a senior judge for a final decision.


A delay of more than a year then ensued before the referee took up the case. On October 9th 2003, this judge finally decided that the original judgement was unsound but instead of acquitting Dr Shaikh, remanded the case back to a lower court for retrial.

The retrial was held over three sessions in November 2003. In the light of
the harassment and intimidation suffered by his lawyers at the earlier
hearings, and much against the advice of the judge, his colleagues, his
family and the members of the diplomatic community present in court, Dr
Shaikh decided this time to conduct his own defence. The prosecuting counsel tried to exploit the religious feelings of the court but Dr Shaikh confined his defence to legal arguments and was finally acquitted on 21st November. He tells us that he was inspired by the defence speech of Sir Thomas More in �A Man for All Seasons�. Fortunately the outcome this time was different.

Escape to Freedom

Dr Shaikh was released from the gaol in great secrecy, was offered, but
refused, a police bodyguard, and went into hiding for several weeks, meeting family and friends and even participating, incognito, in a debate on Human Rights, while making arrangements to leave the country. He has now left Pakistan for Europe.

Many victims of the Pakistani blasphemy laws have failed to survive prison
while a number of those tried and acquitted have been murdered following
their release. As recently as July 2002, Mohammed Yousaf was shot dead
inside the Central Gaol in Lahore while awaiting his appeal. On 7th February 2003, Mushtaq Zafar, a 55 year-old man accused of blasphemy was shot dead on his way home from the High Court. And in June 2003, a woman who had accused the police of a gang rape was later charged with blasphemy and murdered even before her trial began.

Even the legal profession are not immune from attack. Defence lawyers have been intimidated by fundamentalists and even a High Court judge was murdered after acquitting an accused.

Last week, one of Dr Shaikh�s supporters, speaking anonymously from
Islamabad said:

�We may draw some satisfaction and may even feel like celebrating that our efforts in pursuing this case led to the acquittal of Dr. Sheikh, but let's
not forget that as long as the Blasphemy law is on the statute book, it will
continue to be misused. At this very moment there are several innocent
people, victims of this black law, languishing in various jails and lock-ups
of the country awaiting an uncertain future. And these victims may not be as fortunate as Dr. Sheikh was. Dr. Sheikh had a circle of committed friends inside and outside the country.�

�It is also a sad reflection on the state and society of Pakistan that even
when individuals are exonerated by law of any guilt, they are forced to flee
the country for their safety. The state or society is unable or unwilling to
provide them protection. Dr. Sheikh was not at all eager to leave the
country. If he had a choice he would have stayed with his family
and friends. I could see his reluctance to leave the country written large
on his face when I accompanied him to the airport.�

�The bottom line is that we must continue our campaign until this
draconian law, along with similar other medieval laws, is undone or at least
modified to save the innocent people from its abuse.�

The International Humanist and Ethical Union, the World umbrella
organisation for Humanist, Secular, Freethought and Ethical Culture
organisations, with nearly 100 member organisations in 37 countries will
continue to work tirelessly for the repeal of all such laws.
Roy Brown, President, IHEU

For further information call:
IHEU President, Roy Brown: +41 79 212 5603
IHEU office: +44 (0) 207 631 3170
IHEU Executive Director, Babu Gogineni: +44 (0) 7801 570 150


 

Ibn Rushd


From:  "Roy Brown"
Date:  Fri Jan 23, 2004  10:16 pm
Subject:  Dr Shaikh is Free!

Dear Friends

Brilliant news.

Please see www.iheu.org for details

Many thanks to all of you who wrote, lobbied, phoned, met, cajoled and otherwise shook the trees for Younus.

Roy Brown


From: "fatemolla ." <[email protected]>
Date: Fri Jan 23, 2004 10:01pm
Subject: TUG OF WAR.

TUG OF WAR.

(Dori Tana-Tani).


This is what it is called, Tug Of War. Or we may call it, Rope-Pulling. In 
this game two competing groups pull a thick strong rope towards opposite 
directions. The �biggest, fattest, huge tummy�ed� person tie the end of the 
rope around his waist, and the rest pull it. Winner is the party who can 
pull the rope towards themselves.

It used to be played in Bengal-villages. Now it is being played in 
international arena, between us and them. We are pulling the rope towards 
humanity, they are pulling it towards theocracy. In Bengal-villages it is 
entertainment, here it is a deadly encounter. Once the game is over, history 
will bury one of us in its huge stomach, forever.

Either us, or them. So we had to bite a death-bite, we can�t afford to 
loose. And they did it too, they can�t afford to loose either! For us it is 
the question of saving humanity from that poisonous snake. For them it is 
the vital question of their existence.

Win or die. For both of us.

They gave us a blow in Pakistan by sentencing stoning-to-death to Zafran 
Bibi. We defeated them by saving her with a terrific international scream. 
They emerged in BD and defeated us by placing two killers as ministers in 
the parliament. We rushed to Islamabad and defeated them by a new Law of 
women deciding their own marriage. They went to NWFP (Pakistan) and defeated 
us by passing a law that no women be attended by male-technicians for 
ultrasound and ECG. We showed up in Bhurghata of Barisal (23 March 2003) and 
kicked away the Islamic State-ists. They went to Indonesia and smashed us by 
passing a law giving fathers the right to marry their daughters against the 
girls� will. We went to Nigeria and won in case of Amina Kurami. They went 
to Iran and defeated us by killing freethinkers and journalists. We came 
back to Pakistan and snatched Dr. Yunus Shaikh from their deadly claw.


A global drama is going on in full force. One thing is clear. Our means is 
peaceful. Theirs is violence.


Who will win?

Thanks.
**************

 

 

 

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