Pakistani blasphemy laws scorned after American’s death
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The brazen killing of an American standing trial for blasphemy in this nation renewed pressure on Islamabad to reform laws that human rights groups say target minorities.
Tahir Naseem, 57, of Illinois was on trial in Peshawar for claiming to be a prophet. Early Wednesday, a man walked into the city’s busy central courtroom and shot Naseem multiple times at close range.
Video of the killing, widely circulated on social media, showed police restraining the gunman as Naseem lay in a pool of blood on the floor just a few feet away. The armed man could be heard saying that the prophet Muhammad told him in a dream to kill Naseem.
“He is the enemy of Islam … the enemy of Pakistan,” the gunman said.
Inam Ullah Yousafzai, a lawyer who was in the courtroom, said that after killing Naseem, the gunman placed his pistol on a table and surrendered to police. The courthouse is heavily guarded, with multiple security searches and checkpoints that anyone who wants to enter must pass through.
The gunman was brought before a court to face possible terrorism and murder charges Thursday.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry pledged that “the matter will be dealt with in accordance with the law” and that constitutional rights and protections would be “fully enforced and implemented.”
The U.S. State Department said Naseem was a U.S. citizen and called in a tweet for “immediate action” in response to his killing.
Cale Brown, a State Department spokesman, said the U.S. had worked with Naseem’s family since his detention in 2018 and alerted senior Pakistani officials to his case “to prevent the type of shameful tragedy that eventually occurred,” according to a statement.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have long been the target of criticism from international human rights groups, which have demanded their repeal. Human Rights Watch has reported that the laws “provide a pretext for violence against religious minorities, as well as arbitrary arrests and prosecution.”
In Pakistan, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam can be sentenced to death, and allegations of blasphemy have triggered violent riots. Blasphemy allegations have led to extrajudicial murders, rights groups say. But while many inmates are on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan, the country has never carried out a death sentence in those cases.
Most of those accused of blasphemy, like Naseem, belong to the Ahmadia minority group, which is viewed by many Muslims in Pakistan as heretical.
Hours after the news of Naseem’s killing was reported by local media, a hashtag began trending on social media praising the gunman as a hero. Many of those promoting the hashtag described themselves as Taliban sympathizers.