Younus Shaikh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Younus Shaikh is a Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist, rationalist and free-thinker. In August 2001 he was imprisoned in Pakistan under sentence of death for blasphemy. Dr Shaikh was held in the Central Gaol in Rawalpindi pending the appeals to the High Court but there was no agreement for the appeal. In July 2002 the case was referred to a referee judge. In October 2003 the judge found that the original judgment was unsound and sent the case back to the lower court for retrial.
The retrial was held in November 2003. Dr Shaikh held his own defence and was finally acquitted on 21 November 2003.
Contents |
[edit] Background to the charges
He was accused of defying the Prophet Muhammad by stating that the Prophet did not become a Muslim until the age of 40 (i.e., until he received the first message from God) and that the Prophet’s parents were non-Muslims because they died before Islam existed. He was also accused of saying that the Prophet was unlikely to have shaved under his armpits since the custom was probably unknown to his tribe at the time.
In Pakistan, blasphemy is tried under Article 295/C of the Pakistan Penal Code and if the accused is pronounced guilty, they face a mandatory death sentence. They are also unable to obtain bail and are held in custody awaiting trial.
[edit] Campaign for release
Rationalists and humanists campaigned successfully for his release, and he now lives in Switzerland. Dr. Shaikh is an Honorary Associate of Rationalist International and an Honorary member of Mukto Mona, a secular organization for Bengali humanists & freethinkers.[1]
[edit] Personal background
Dr Shaikh was born on 30 May 1952 in Chishtian, Pakistan. He qualified as a medical doctor in Multan, where he studied. In Dublin and London he did post-gradutate studies and worked as a trainee surgeon there from 1981 to 1988. On his return to Pakistan he taught in a medical college in Islamabad.
As a Human Rights activist in Pakistan he attracted the attention of the Islamic fundamentalists. He took part in the Pakistan-India Forum for Peace and Democracy, and was a member of the South Asian Fraternity, South Asian Union and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. In 1990 he started a Humanist organisation called “The Enlightenment”, inspired by the ideas of the European Enlightenment and Renaissance.
