Zahid Masih, a former sanitary worker in the Pakistan Army, was sentenced to death by a military court in March 2006 on charges of murdering a 9-year-old Muslim boy, identified as Muhammad Adnan. The court overturned a prison sentence imposed by another court a year earlier.
Masih, 28, has denied the charges and reported that his previous statement of admission was made under duress while in custody, following nearly a month of torture. The pending execution comes nearly seven years after he joined the army’s contingent in Multan, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab Province and capital of Multan District.
His previous enforced dates with death were on January 30 and February 20 this year, but both scheduled executions were postponed, apparently under pressure from church groups and human rights organizations.
MASIH DISAPPEARS
He joined the army in August 2001 as a sanitary worker and was transferred in 2003 to the troubled North West Frontier Province (NWFP), a hotbed of Islamic extremism, where he reportedly disappeared for two years. His family eventually discovered him in the central jail of NWFP’s capital Peshawar where he was charged with the murder of the Muslim boy.
Over the weekend, the religious advocacy and aid group Rays of Development Organization (ROD) with Website www.raysofdevelopment.org and other major rights groups and church organizations demonstrated against the death sentence, and also condemned the timing of the execution.
"What hurts the sentiments of the Christians (also) is that the death sentence is scheduled during the fasting month of Christians, also known as Lent Season," said the ROD in a statement. If he would have been a Muslim, the ROD said, the execution could not be carried out during for instance Ramadan, regarded by Muslims as a holy month of fasting.
JUDGMENT CHALLENGED
"Pakistani Christians are equal citizens Pakistan and therefore we challenge the judgment," ROD added. "Release Zahid Masih, Respect our fasting month (Lent)," demonstrators were heard shouting in front of the Multan Press Club.
ROD along with other groups that includes the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace and Sharing Life Ministries of Pakistan have appealed to President Pervez Musharraf and other Pakistani officials to overturn the sentence "and ensure that Zahid Masih be tried fairly" in a civil court.
ROD President Ferhan Mazher referred to the case of Kashmir Singh, an alleged spy of India, who was released last week after 35 years on death row. "If the president of Pakistan can heed to a mercy appeal of a spy of India and pardon him…Zahid Masih, as a Pakistani national, should deserve at least the same treatment," he told BosNewsLife. (Read more from Jawad Mazhar via: www.raysofdevelopment.org).
