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News > Pakistan

Pakistani Christian Man Fears Being Murdered If UK Deports Him

  • Azeem Wazir, a Pakistani Christian man is afraid of being murdered of he is deported.

    Azeem Wazir, a Pakistani Christian man is afraid of being murdered of he is deported. | Photo: Facebook / Azeem Wazir

Published 9 May 2019
Opinion

The U.K. is set to deport a Pakistani Christian man who might get killed if he is deported due to the country's blasphemy laws. 

A Christian man originally from Pakistan living in Britain for the past four years is at risk of getting killed if he is deported back to his country, which could happen by Friday.

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Azeem Wazir said that he had to flee Pakistan and leave his family behind after a fatwah was issued against him in 2015 for being involved in a campaign called “Stop Killing Christians” and protesting against the country’s blasphemy laws.

At present, he is being held in Colnbrook immigration removal center and may be deported Friday by British immigration authorities.

Wazir’s lawyers started an urgent appeal to stop the deportation. An online petition is also being circulated, urging the home secretary Sajid Javid to reconsider the case, which has gained the support of over 6,500 signators.

The case came to light after Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who spent eight years on death row falsely charged with blasphemy, left the country for Canada after being acquitted by the Supreme Court.

Bibi, a farm worker was convicted in 2010 of making derogatory remarks about Islam after fellow field workers objected to Bibi's drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim.

Two Pakistani politicians who sought to help Bibi were later assassinated, including the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, shot by his own bodyguard.

Wazir had been asking for asylum status from the U.K. government since his arrival but has been denied each time. He is afraid of facing the death penalty for blasphemy or being lynched by Islamic radicals if returned to Pakistan.

Marvin Rees, the mayor of Bristol, England where Wazir has been living for the past four years said of the scenario: “It is inconceivable that as Canada opens its doors to give Asia Bibi and her family safety, we are on the verge of sending one of her public supporters back to Pakistan where he faces clear and very serious danger.”

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“Azeem is a valued member of the Bristol community and we are doing everything we can to try to make sure the Home Office reconsiders this case.” The Pakistani has been detained in an immigration center there since last week.

Christians in Pakistan are less than 2 percent of the population out of 200 million. The country’s blasphemy law “targets Christians in particular” according to Open Doors, an organization which monitors worldwide Christian persecutions.

Any insult to Islam or the Prophet Muhammad carries a death sentence in Pakistan, although no one has been executed in decades.

Blasphemy is such a sensitive issue there that a mere accusation can result in mob lynching. At least 67 people have been killed over unproven blasphemy accusations since 1990, human rights groups say.

The blasphemy laws are often invoked to settle personal scores and to intimidate liberal journalists, lawyers, and politicians.

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