Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Two Pakistani Christian brothers arrested on blasphemy allegations

Two Christian brothers have been arrested on blasphemy allegations after one of them was accused of having disrespectful material on his website.

A case has been registered against Qaisar and Amoon Ayub of Lahore relating to accusations dating back to 2011.

According to Qaisar he closed the account in 2009 but one of his Muslim friends, Shahryar Gill, somehow managed to restore the website, while ownership remained in Qaisar’s Name.

The story goes back to 2010 When Qaisar used to have an overseas employment office in Raja Centre, Lahore.

Qaisar is married to Amina and they have three children, while Amoon is married to Huma who is a teacher at Cathedral School, Lahore. CLAAS got involved in this case when Huma contacted us for legal aid and support.

One day an argument broke out at Qaisar’s office between his friends, when one of them made a comment about another’s sister.

The aggrieved friend blamed to Qaisar and warned him that it is a serious matter in Pakistan. Qaisar started to receive death threats from his friends and then went into hiding. When the situation deteriorated both brothers fled to Singapore without telling their wives, but after a month they returned to Pakistan and then Amoon told his wife the whole story.

The situation was still tense, so they left again in November 2009 for Thailand, in search of security, but couldn’t stay there for too long time and in 2012 went back to Pakistan. Qaisar was informed by one of his friend that the CIA was looking for him and that he could be arrested at any time because a blasphemy case had been registered against him.

On 10 November 2014, while on his way to work at Kids Campus DHA, Amoon was arrested and told that a case had also been registered against his brother. The police asked him about his brother Qaisar and advised Amoon to stay hidden because he was accused under section 109-A PPC.

Qaisar was later arrested and sent to District jail at Jhelum.

Fed up of a miserable life in Pakistan, Amoon finally decided to leave the country, and on November 17, 2014 was arrested by the Immigrant Police at Lahore Airport. Later police sent him to District Jail Jhelum under the same offence with which his brother was.

Huma did all she could to get her husband releases, but she failed. However, she did not lose hope and finally approached CLAAS in June this year for legal aid and support.

Qaisar’s 14-year-old became mentally unwell because of his father’s imprisonment, and CLAAS has arranged treatment for him and is trying its best possible to support both families, but your prayers are equally important.

CLAAS providing both brothers with free legal aid and have visited them in Jhelum, jail. CLAAS is going to apply for their bail once the Eid holidays are over, so please remember CLAAS’s lawyers and the families in your prayers.

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