October 9, 2009
Exclusive: Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws: A Timeline
Adrian Morgan
Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws derive from a colonial British Penal Code written originally in 1860. Originally, this code contained only a few clauses protecting the sensibilities of religious people. The blasphemy laws as they are now known were brought in incrementally via amendments. The first registered blasphemy case took place in 1927. From 1927 to 1984 there were only nine registered cases of blasphemy in the region known now as Pakistan.
In 1982 and 1986, amendments were introduced to the blasphemy laws that imposed strong punishments. Pakistan at that time was under a repressive Islamist regime led by General Zia ul-Haq. The revised blasphemy laws became a vehicle for fundamentalists to persecute those who did not share their outlook. The laws were also convenient ways to settle personal scores. The rate of reported blasphemy cases increased exponentially. From 1984 to 2004, about 5,000 cases of blasphemy were registered.
Data from the NCJP (National Commission for Justice and Peace) reveals that from 1986 until August 2009, a total of 964 people had been charged under blasphemy statutes. These comprised 479 Muslims, 340 Ahmadis, 119 Christians, 14 Hindus and 10 others. Thirty-two people charged with blasphemy have been extra-judicially killed.
So far, even though numerous individuals have received death sentences for blasphemy, no one has been hanged. Higher court appeals judges generally throw out cases where this sentence has been imposed by lower courts. From the moment of accusation until final acquittal, the person must remain in jail. A person given the death penalty usually spends around seven years before being freed through appeal. In prison the convict is shunned and often threatened, or attacked.
The timeline below is by no means a complete account, but it does present a selection of important events related to Pakistan's blasphemy legislation. I suggest that readers also consult the timelines here and here.
The timeline is a supplement to the article presented on Family Security Matters this week on the oppression of religious minorities in Pakistan (Parts One, Part Two and Part Three).
1860
The original Penal Code is written, intended by the British Raj to govern West Pakistan.
1927
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, XXV of 1927. This adds two new articles to Section 295 of the Penal Code. Section 295-A prohibits "Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs." Section 295-B is introduced, to deal with "Defiling, etc., of Holy Qur'an."
August 11, 1947
Pakistan becomes independent from Britain. The 1860 penal code is carried over into the legislation of Pakistan.
1982
P.P.C. (Amendment) Ordinance, I, further amends Section 295-B extends penalty options to include life imprisonment. This ordinance also introduces another article: Section 295-C, which outlaws "Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet."
1986
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, III of 1986, Schedule 2, makes further additions, adding the option of "death penalty" to Section 295-C, and made a minor amendment to Section 296 (Disturbing religious assembly).
July 21, 1992
Tahir Iqbal, a convert to Christianity from Islam, was said to have insulted Mohammed. In July 1991, a judge said that being a convert to Christianity (and an apostate from Islam) was an offense. While in custody, Tahir Iqbal would be poisoned on July 21, 1992.
1992 - exact date unverified:
Nawaz Sharif's government, under pressure from Islamic organizations, removes from Section 295-C ("derogatory terms against Prophet Mohammed") the option of imposing a life sentence. As a result, convicted "blasphemers" are given a mandatory death sentence.
January 6, 1992
Blasphemy accused individual Niamat Ahmer, described as a teacher, poet and writer was killed in custody. Niamat Amer was murdered in Faisalabad, but no charges had been officially made against him. His killer, Farooq Ahmad, said that Amer had verbally insulted Mohammed and Islam.
January 6, 1992
Accused of blasphemy, 80-year-old Bantu Masih. Bantu was stabbed in front of police officers.
July 1995
Catherine Shaheen, a teacher from Lahore in Punjab province was denied her salary because of accusations of blasphemy. She went into hiding, following threats of death from fundamentalists.
October 14, 1996
Ayub Masih is arrested. He is accused of blaspheming Mohammed by suggesting that someone should read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. The charges are false, but it takes six years for the case to be thrown out.
April 27, 1998
Ayub Masih, a Christian, is sentenced to death for blaspheming against Mohammed (Section 295-C). On November 6, 1997, he had been shot at in Sahiwal court house.
May 6, 1998
Bishop John Joseph commits suicide. He shoots himself with a pistol at the Sahiwal court house. He has planned his death as a protest against the blasphemy laws, which were widely used to oppress the Christian community. He dies at the spot where Ayub Masih had been shot at earlier.
May 10, 1998
Bishop John Joseph, human rights activist, is buried in Faisalabad, seat of his diocese.
May 13, 1998:
Roman Catholic Church makes urgent calls for lawyers to represent the appeal of Christian bricklayer Ayub Mashih against his death sentence for blasphemy.
April 20, 2000
General Musharraf, prior to calling a general election, promises to ensure that a senior civil servant examines cases of blasphemy before charges are made.
May 17, 2000
General Musharraf, following pressure from Islamic groups, announces that he has abandoned his proposed change to blasphemy case procedure, and the law is to remain unchanged.
August 18, 2001:
Younus Shaikh, rights activist and lecturer on homeopathic medicine, given death sentence under Section 295-C at Islamabad additional sessions court.
March 24, 2003
Two men, Mohammed Shahzad and Mohammed Yousaf are arrested after allegedly burning two copies of the Koran on a stove. These were recovered by police. (see Jan. 31, 2004)
August 8, 2003
A man said by his relatives to be mentally unstable was given a death sentence at Bahawalnagar Additional Sessions Court. The man, Bashir Ahmed, apparently claimed he was sent by God to be a reformer, and allegedly claimed to be a prophet. It was said he paid people to come to his sermons.
November 12, 2003
Niaz Ahmed, a 55-year-old Muslim, receives death sentence for allegedly insulting Mohammed (Section 295-C). Ahmed's relatives claim that the case against him was fabricated, and stemmed from the enmity of a man named Muhammad Baqir.
November 21, 2003:
Younus Shaikh is acquitted and freed from jail (see above), after appeal and retrial. The news is initially suppressed to ensure his physical safety.
November 28, 2003
Anwar Masih, a Christian laborer is arrested for blasphemy after a religious discussion with an acquaintance who had converted to Islam three months earlier. The convert gathered two others to pelt Masih's house with stones. Police take note of the "blasphemy" accusation, but ignore the violence carried out by the accuser and his accomplices.
January 31, 2004
Muhammad Yousaf and Muhammad Shahzad (see Mar 24, 2003) are given life sentences.
April 10, 2004
Younus Shaikh (see above) addresses the annual conference of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and states: "I feel I have been a victim of Islamic Mullah terrorism through the abuse of the state apparatus and the civil law. My first trial was a show trial almost reminiscent of the trials and tortures of the infamous Spanish inquisition, and the trials and burning of European women as witches.... The blasphemy law has brought shame on Pakistan. The law itself is unjust and inequitable, the offence it treats is poorly defined and open to abuse, and its operation has been widely misused and abused."
May 26, 2004
27-year-old Samuel Masih is charged under blasphemy laws, Section 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship, with Intent to insult the religion of any class). This older section of the religious laws can only gain a two-year jail sentence at maximum. He had been accused of leaving litter on the wall of a mosque on August 23, 2003. The charges are brought against Samuel as he lies in a critical condition. A policeman, Constable Faryad Ali, hit him on the head with a brick-cutter on May 22, allegedly saying: "I wanted to earn a place in heaven by killing him."
May 28, 2004
Samuel Masih (previous entry) dies from his injuries.
July 28, 2004
Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat comes back from UK to tell reporters that misuse of the blasphemy laws would not be tolerated and his "government would amend any law which discriminates against Pakistani citizens because the Constitution guarantees equality to everyone irrespective to the sect, or religion they belong to."
July 30, 2004
Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ijaz ul-Haq (son of General Zia ul-Haq) tells reporters that blasphemy cases would need to be investigated by a police superintendent before charges can be laid. This is a variant of a 2002 pledge by General Musharraf (abandoned a month later) which would have involved a civil servant (rather than a police superintendent) to investigate blasphemy-related cases before charges are filed.
October 18, 2004
A Christian family forced to flee their home in Wah Cantt in Punjab province after their 11-year-old daughter accidentally put a copy of the Koran in garbage, two months earlier. A neighbor saw the Koran in the garbage and the family were threatened with violence. The family left with the help of the authorities after warnings that their home would be burned. No charges were brought.
November 2, 2004
NCJP announced that the government had ignored recommendations made in 1996 by the UN Special Rapporteur that the blasphemy laws be made compatible with human rights.
November 12, 2004
A journalist is acquitted and freed after four years in jail. On January 29, 2001, Munawar Mohsin Ali was arrested for allowing a "blasphemous" letter to be printed in the Frontier Post newspaper. On July 8, 2003, he had been sentenced to life imprisonment, even though a doctor ruled he was mentally unwell. At the appeal, the bench said that the prosecution "failed to prove that the appellant had intentionally published the letter.”
November 30, 2004
Iqbal Ahmad is sentenced to life imprisonment under the blasphemy laws. He was also fined 10,000 rupees.
February 23, 2005
A 30-year-old Christian, described as a magician/exorcist, is given a 7-year jail term under Section 295-B, for allegedly desecrating the Koran. Bashir Masih allegedly confessed to tearing up a Koran, claiming it was part of his magic.
June 28, 2005
A 60-year-old illiterate Christian street sweeper, Yousaf Masih in Naushera, Punjab province, is spotted by a child burning pages of the Koran. The boy reported Yousaf and on the same night a Hindu temple was burned. Masih claimed to only follow orders from his employer to dispose of garbage. Yousaf was charged under Section 295-B (desecration of the Koran) and Section 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
August 12, 2005
Younis Sheikh (no relation to Younus Shaikh) is given a life sentence for publishing a book in which he described early imams who guided the first Islamic community as "Jews." He also claimed that the penalty for adultery of stoning to death was "not mentioned in the Koran" – a statement considered blasphemous.
September 19, 2005
An alliance of 22 Sunni religious organizations gathered together to demand that Younis Masih, a Christian from Amer Sidhu, be hanged immediately. Masih had been charged on September 10, 2005, under Section 295-C after he made insulting remarks about Mohammed at a wedding party. Masih was beaten up by Christians and Muslims and Christians had to flee the area. Punjab's minority affairs minister, Joyce Rufin, had no sympathy. She said: "Any person who intentionally disrupts the atmosphere of peace and harmony between Muslims and Christians, needs to be punished by the law." A mob of 200 Muslims had attacked the neighborhood where Younis Masih lived, causing 50 Christian families to flee.
November 12, 2005
Yousaf Masih was accused of desecrating a Koran by burning its pages and is place in jail too await trial under Section 295-B. A mob of Muslims, spurred on by calls from a local mosque's loudspeakers, attack Christian community in Sangla Hill, Punjab province. Churches, a school and other buildings are destroyed.
November 25, 2005
An Islamic cleric registers blasphemy charges against two named individuals and several others (unnamed) in Baghbanpura, Punjab province. The accused are said to have published literature denigrating the Deobandi sect (which shares the same ideology as the Taliban). Charges registered under Sections 295-A and 298-A of the penal code.
December 8, 2005
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, writes in the Times about Sangla Hill and maintains that he "sees signs of hope." The hope that he claims to see lies in interfaith dialogue, failing to appreciate that when one group is small and oppressed, there is no true "dialogue," only the monologue of the group with power.
January 5, 2006
An Ahmadiyya (Ahmadi) imam and four other people were charged under Section 298-C of the PPC. Because the Ahmadis had referred to Allah, they had called Prophet Mohammed their "beloved master" they had – by law – suggested they were Muslims and therefore had broken the terms of Section 298-C which deliberately discriminates against Ahmadis who declare themselves to be Muslims.
January 25, 2006
Zebunissa, a woman who was accused in 1996 of desecrating verses from the Koran (Section 295-B) is transferred from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore to a mental hospital, where she is declared to be mentally retarded. At no stage since her arrest and imprisonment has she been before a court. As of writing (October 8th) she is still not free.
February 13, 2006
An alliance of traders of all political parties (APOSTCI) announces a strike to be held on March 13th to complain about Danish cartoon images, considered "blasphemous."
February 18, 2006
64 men who were charged in connection with attacks against the Christian community in Sangla Hill on November 12, 2005, were ordered by a court in Lahore to be released on bail bonds. Later, all charges are dropped.
February 23, 2006
Yousaf Masih, who was falsely accused of desecrating a Koran, was acquitted by Lahore Anti Terrorist Court. The accusation against Masih had led to a Muslim riot against Christians at Sangla Hill on November 12, 2005.
March 6, 2006
An imam in Ganj Mandi, Rawalpindi was charged under Section 295-B for desecrating a Koran. Maulvi Arif confessed that he had only tried to burn an extinct copy of the Koran "in accordance with Shariat."
December 12, 2006
Man arrested in Gojra for using offensive language against Allah in a conversation with others. Ghulam Mustafa attacked a cigarette shop owner who had asked him to stop.
May 9, 2007
A brother's attempt to have Abdul Hameed released from jail is rejected by Lahore High Court. The brother maintains that Hameed, who is accused under Section 295-C, is faring badly in jail and that five doctors had judged Abdul Hameed to be mentally ill.
May 9, 2007
79-year-old Walter Fazal Khan was taking a bath. A man called Riaz, who lived in the house, knocked on the door and said something was burning in the house. A burnt Koran was found in one of the rooms, and Riaz brought Islamic clerics to the house, who tried to beat Walter. The 79-year-old was then charged under Section 295-B (desecrating a Koran).
May 19, 2007
100 Muslims petition Samanabad Police Station demanding a proper investigation into the truth behind the suspicious circumstances of the arrest and charge of Walter Fazal Khan under Section 295-B
May 29, 2007
79-year-old Walter Fazal Khan is granted bail by an additional sessions judge at Lahore.
June 1, 2007
On this date, a FIR report is lodged against Christian nurses at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). They and their supervisor Stella Nazir were suspended. Accusations were made that – on May 17, 2007 – these had desecrated the Koran. The actions were brought by students connected to the Jamia Hafsa madrassa, part of the Red Mosque complex. The "Koran" referred to was a water cooler that bore some verses of the Koran. These had been defaced.
June 1, 2007
The Director of PIMS, Dr. Amjad, registers a complaint under Section 295B. Stella Nazir, the Staff Nursing College Principal and four others are suspended. Students from the Jamia Hafsa and the Red Mosque, wielding batons, tried to forcibly gain control of the nurses' hostel, but were prevented from entering.
June 6, 2007
84-year-old Gladys Walter, the wife of Walter Fazal Khan, died in hospital. On May 9, 2007, her 79-year-old husband had been accused of blasphemy, and on the same day Gladys had converted to Islam. Her husband said his wife was in a coma when she had allegedly converted and could not speak.
June 9, 2007
Quote: "Shahdra Town police station registered a case against a mentally-challenged man, Nadir Ali, under blasphemy laws on the complaint of Shahid Maqbool, a relative of the accused who lived in the upper portion of Nadir's house on rent. Later the police confessed that it lodged the FIR against Nadir due to pressure exerted by people of the community. They also confirmed that Shahid wanted to grab Nadir's property."
June 19, 2007
Ijaz ul-Haq officially withdrew his statement made on June 18, 2007 that if Britain failed to withdraw the knighthood given to Salman Rushdie, suicide bombers against Britain would be "justified."
January 27, 2007
Jamaat-i-Islami party warns that it will challenge any amendment or abolition of blasphemy statutes by staging nationwide protests.
May 31, 2007
First use of video evidence in a blasphemy trial. For reasons of security, Younis Masih gives evidence from jail. He is sentenced to death for breaching Section 295-C.
December 11, 2007
Lahore High Court acquitted a man previously convicted under blasphemy legislation. On June 23, Muhammad Sharif had been given life imprisonment and a 50,000 rupee fine. The High Court said that police should firstly check the truth of blasphemy claims before bringing charges.
April 8, 2008
A 25-year-old Hindu, Jagdish Kumar, was tortured and beaten to death after he allegedly blasphemed against Prophet Mohammed. Kumar worked in a factory, and was murdered by his co-workers who tried to burn his body. He was killed for comments he had made in a discussion about religion.
June 18, 2008
In Sialkot, Punjab province, Shafeeq Lateef gets death sentence for blasphemy. He was charged under Section 295-C for making derogatory remarks about Mohammed, and additionally he was fined 500,000 rupees for desecrating a Koran, breaching Section 295-B. Lateef had originally been charged on March 17, 2006.
July 26, 2008
In a suburb of Karachi, Munawar Babar was severely beaten by a lynch mob but was rescued by police and charged. Some police were also injured by the mob. Babar claimed to be a faith healer and had allegedly performed "blasphemous acts" which provoked the crowd to want to kill him.
January 28, 2009
Four Ahmadi boys from Layyah, Punjab province, aged 14 to 16, were arrested in Layah disrict, accused of writing blasphemous graffiti in a mosque. The boys were invited earlier to visit the mosque, weeks before the accusations were made. The Human Richts Commission of Pakistan claimed that the only reason the boys were accused is that they were not "Muslims" and had been to the mosque – there was no evidence. A fifth individual, a man is his 40s, was subsequently arrested. The youths were charged under Section 295-C.
February 4, 2009
A newspaper report claims that after the arrest of four Amadi boys, the Ahmadi community suffers ostracism.Ten students have been expelled from a private tuition center because of their religion, and shopkeepers refuse to serve Ahmadis.
April 21, 2009
Supreme Court rejects an appeal against a Federal Sharia Court ruling that had declared that death is the only punishment for blasphemy allowed by Islamic law.
June 30, 2009
110 Christian families are forced to flee from their homes in Bahmniwala, Kasur district in Punjab province, accusing them of blasphemy. The unrest stems from an argument between a Christian and a Muslim which ended with the Christian charged under blasphemy legislation.
July 30, 2009
About 40 Christian's houses in the village of Korian, near Gojra, are burned down after accusations that Christians had desecrated the Koran at a local Christian wedding. Charges under Section 295-B were made.
August 1, 2009
Seven Christians, including two children, are burned alive in Gojra. Pope Benedict XVI subsequently condemns the attack. Sipah-i-Sahaba activists are later blamed for the attack.
August 4, 2009
A factory owner is killed by a mob, and two others killed, after the proprietor removed an old Islamic calendar from the wall and put it on a table. The calendar bore words from the Koran, so he was accused of desecrating a Koran.
August 11, 2009
Interior Minister Rehman Malik tells National Assembly that provincial authorities had been asked to be vigilant towards activities of banned Islamist group Sipah-i-Sahaba
September 1, 2009
The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Human Rights urges government to re-examine blasphemy laws and procedures of enforcement. Faisalabad Regional Police Officer (RPO) Ahmed Raza blamed Punjab constabulary for disobeying orders during the Gojra attack.
September 15, 2009
A 19-year-old Christian from a village near Sialkot was found dead in jail. "Robert" Fanish Masih had been in jail since September 11th, accused under Section 295-B. Though police claimed he strangled himself, his death is regarded by many as a result of violence. He had head wounds.
September 17, 2009
Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minority affairs, is in Washington D.C. A Christian, he promises the U.S .Commission on International Religious Freedom that "the Pakistani government is to review, revisit and amend blasphemy laws so it will not remain a tool in the hands of extremists."
September 19, 2009
Chaudry Shujaat Hussain, president of the PML-Q party (the party Musharraf belongs to) pledged his party to protesting any change to the existing blasphemy laws. He claimed that it was the duty of every Muslim to defend the blasphemy laws.
October 6, 2009
Former information minister Sherry Rehman and Jamila Gilani (a member of the National Assembly) called in the National Assembly for the blasphemy laws to be repealed. Sahibzada Fazal Karim, Central President of the JUP, responded: "We will not allow it." The JUP is the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Assembly of Pakistani Clergy), an Islamist party.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan is a British based writer and artist. He has previously contributed to various publications, including the Guardian and New Scientist and is a former Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Society. He is currently compiling a book on the demise of democracy and the growth of extremism in Britain.
Reader Comments: Submit Your Comment (3)
Adrian, this is a very interesting article. I did not not know all this and I have learned a lot. What a cruel and unjust law. We are lucky to have freedom of speech.
I love your articles. They are very informative.
posted by : Julia Jabre
Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 08:37 PM
The man Oprah Winfrey missed till date
To most people in the world, Oprah Winfrey is an icop of admiration. She has reached into the position of very high esteem due to her continuous philanthrophic works, especially in the poverty hit African continent. This year, when most of the people were not sure even to predict the name of the possible recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (before the prize was announced to be given to American President Barack Obama), like millions, I was also thinking Oprah as the most potential cadidate for the prize.
Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American media personality, actress, television producer, literary critic and magazine publisher, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the most philanthropic African American of all time, and was once the world's only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.
Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, including being raped at the age of nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.
Credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication, she is thought to have popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue, which a Yale study claimed broke 20th century taboos and allowed LGBT people to enter the mainstream. By the mid 1990s she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Though criticized for unleashing confession culture and promoting controversial self-help fads, she is generally admired for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others. In 2006 she became an early supporter of Barack Obama and one analysis estimates she delivered over a million votes in the close 2008 Democratic primary race, an achievement for which the governor of Illinois considered offering her a seat in the U.S. senate.
Though there are conflicting reports as to how her name became "Oprah", Winfrey was originally named Orpah after the Biblical character in the Book of Ruth.
According to an interview with the Academy of Achievement, Winfrey claimed that her family and friends' inability to pronounce “Orpah” caused them to put the “P” before the “R” in every place else other than the birth certificate. However, there is the account that the midwife transposed letters while filling out the newborn's birth certificate.
Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unmarried parents. She later explained that her conception was due to a single sexual encounter that her two teenage parents had; they quickly broke up not long after. Her mother, Vernita Lee, was a housemaid, and her father, Vernon Winfrey, was a coal miner and later worked as a barber before becoming a city councilman. Winfrey's father was in the Armed Forces when she was born.
After her birth, Winfrey's mother traveled north and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, who was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which the local children made fun of her. Her grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When Winfrey was a child, her grandmother would take a switch and would hit her with it when she didn't do chores or if she misbehaved in any way.
At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, due in large part to the long hours Vernita Lee worked as a maid. Winfrey has stated that she was molested by her cousin, her uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old, something she first revealed to her viewers on a 1986 episode of her TV show, when sexual abuse was being discussed.
Despite her dysfunctional home life, Winfrey skipped two of her earliest grades, became the teacher's pet, and by the time she was 13 received a scholarship to attend Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin. After suffering years of abuse, at 13 Winfrey ran away from home. When she was 14, she became pregnant, but her son died shortly after birth. Also at that age, her frustrated mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. At age 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time. She worked there during her senior year of high school, and again while in her first two years of college.
Winfrey's career choice in media did not surprise her grandmother, who once said that ever since Winfrey could talk, she was on stage. As a child she played games interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence of her family's property. Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself."
Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars there as well.
I know, it is not at all required to narrate, who Oprah Winfrey is, because, she is well known in the world to her millions of fans and admirers, which include polticiains to entrepreneurs to media giants to celebrities.
But, there is one very particular reason for me to bring this background of this highly esteemed individual. And the reason is, she (Oprah) surely understands the degree of sufferings and pains, any individual would have, when he or she is continued to be persecuted, ignored and tortured by their societies.
Here now, I would like to bring the case of another individual, who is yet to be become a household name in the world. This man, just because of his ideological stand against social injustice, religious extremism, Jihad and religious hatred, is continuing to face sedition, treason and blasphemy charges in his own country (Bangladesh) since 2003. And, till date, he has skipped the precious attention of Oprah Winfrey. Who knows, if Oprah would only know about him and show any interest, when he is already murdered by Islamist militants in his own country or awarded death penalty by the court, where trial into the sedition case brought against him is continuing.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an award winning anti Jihadist Muslim journalist in Bangladesh. He is the editor of Weekly Blitz. This newspaper has both print and online edition reaching mostly policymakers, politicians, entrepreneurs, students, think tanks, civil and millitary officials, clergies and cross section of people in the world. Weekly Blitz is the largest and most infleutial English language newspaper published in Bangladesh. Online edition of the only anti Jihadist newspaper in the Muslim world is available online on www.weeklyblitz.net
Journalist, writer, poet, lyrist, author, political analyst and peace activist, Choudhury, started his career in journalism in 1989 as the Correspondent of TASS, state news agency of Soviet Union. Later he was promoted as the Chief Correspodent of Itar-Tass in Bangladesh.
On November 29, 2003, he was arrested at Zia International Airport in Bangladesh on his way to Israel to attend a peace conference. Choudhury was tortured, imprisoned and denied medical treatment in prison. Government brought sedition, treason and blasphemy charges against him for confronting religious extremism, advocating inter-faith dialogue and demanding relations between Dhaka and Jerusalem. He was released on April 30, 2005 after imprisonment of seventeen months. Although released on bail, Choudhury continues to face sedition, treason and blasphemy charges and the trial continues in a court in Dhaka. Sedition bears capital punishment [death penalty] according to law in Bangladesh.
Choudhury is the recipient of PEN USA Freedom to Write Award in 2005; American Jewish Committee's Moral Courage Award in 2006; Monaco Media Award in 2007 and Key to Englewood City [USA] in 2007.
He has written a number of books on various issues. His latest book titled 'Injustice and Jihad' was published in October 2007. Italian publication house Neftasia Editore has published Choudhury's book titled 'Non Sono Colpevole' in May 2008.
Choudhury's latest book titled 'Inside Madrassa', which contains descriptive and elaborate information on condition of Madrassas in Bangladesh, Pakistan and other Muslim nations has been published in October 2009. This book is a result of comprehensive research by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury for several years.
In today's world, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is perhaps the most quoted Bangladeshi journalist in the international media. Newspapers like New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, New York Sun, The Australian, Berliner Zeitung, Kuwait Times etc has published editorials on him on several occasions. Amongst the global electronic media, only Voice of American (Program name – On the Line, anchored by Eric Felton) aired couple of discussions on him. Other major outlets such as BBC, CNN, Fox, CBS, ABC etc are again, completely ignorant on covering the issue of this extra-ordinary courageous journalist of today’s world.
Office of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury's newspaper, Weekly Blitz was bombed by Islamist millitants in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in July 2006.
On October 5, 2006, armed terrorists attacked the his office and physically assaulted him.
On 18th March 2008, members of Rapid Action Battalion (infamous of extra-judicial murders) abducted Mr. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury at gun point from his office. He was blind-folded and physically assaulted. Because of quick actions by US Peace Activist Dr. Richard L Benkin and Rep. Mark Steven Kirkand other esteemed members of United States Congress, Choudhury escaped RAB's deathtrap.
On February 22, 2009, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury's newspaper office was once again attacked by the armed thugs belonging to ruling party. He and his staffs were physically assaulted and the attackers looted his laptop along with two manuscripts of his un-published books.
US Congress, European Parliament, Australian Senate passed resolutions demanding dropping of the false case of Mr. Choudhury and to give him proper security and stop all forms of harrassments. But, Bangladeshi authorities in Dhaka, instead of showing minimum respect to such calls, withdrew police protection from the residence of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury in May 2008.
Shoaib Choudhury is a permanent member of PENUSA; Advisory Board Member of Islam-Israel Fellowship; Director, Forcefield NFP.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is invited by many prestigious institutions in the world for giving lecture on the topic of his work. Yale University (New Haven, USA) and Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA) invited Choudhury to give lecture during October and November 2009.
Being a fan and admirer of Oprah Winfrey, can I expect this time that her people will call Mr. Choudhury while he is in United States and bring his case to the attention of millions of Oprah viewers around the world? Can I expect reporters and crews of CNN, Fox, CBS and other American media outlets to interview him as well stand in support of their fellow journalist during the most difficult time? Is it something too much I am asking for?
posted by : Anita Mathur
Friday, October 16, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Thank you for your comment Julia.
Dear Anita
Much as I condemn the treatment of Shoaib Choudhury - and I wrote on his case when I used to blog - the comments section on an article on Pakistan's blasphemy laws is perhaps not the best place to post an article on a political prisoner in Bangladesh, whose only "crime" was to support peaceful dialogue with Israel.
Nor is it fair to expect Oprah Winfrey to take on Mr Chaudhury's case - she has her own life and problems to deal with, and it is unfair to expect her to sort out every injustice in the world. She tries her best, but I think you should request her help personally, rather than trying to "shame" the poor woman into supporting your cause.
Perhaps, if a book on Sohaob Chaudury's experiences can be published, Oprah may be requested to review it.
I think your comment would have been far more welcome, and not perceived as "spam" if it stuck to the subject of Mr Chaudury, with no reference at all to Ms Winfrey.
posted by : Adrian Morgan
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 06:55 PM
