Man faces life in jail for desecrating Quran

Karachi: A man found guilty of committing blasphemy by desecrating the Quran has been sentenced to life imprisonment, a court official said yesterday.

Mohammad Yousuf, 44, was sentenced to 25 years rigorous imprisonment by the sessions court in the central city of Multan, public prosecutor Mohammad Siddique said yesterday.

"The court verdict was based on witnesses' accounts and evidence against the accused, which was very strong," Siddique said.

"He tore up the Quran and than threw its pages into a nullah [sewage] in his home village of Qutabpur," he said.

Desecrating the Quran is against the law in Pakistan and is punishable by death under Islamic law.

Siddique said Yousuf has the right to appeal against the decision in an upper court.

Lack of evidence

Cases of blasphemy are relatively common in Pakistan but death sentences have never been carried out because convictions have always been turned down by high courts citing lack of evidence. However, there are occasionally instances of enraged mobs attacking and killing people accused of blasphemy, including desecration of the Quran.

Rights groups say people often make accusations of blasphemy against people they hold a grudge against or if they belong to a different faith or religious sect.

The government plans to reform the law, probably after parliamentary elections due either late this year or early 2008.

Law reform

President General Pervez Musharraf tried to reform the law in 2000, months after he took power in a bloodless coup, but had to drop that plan after widespread protests from powerful religious parties.