Last month, Nabeel Masih allegedly shared an inappropriate picture of the Holy Kaa’ba on his timeline. This activity recently landed him in jail on charges of alleged blasphemy. Based in Bhai Pheru, district Kasur, Nabeel is just a 16-years old boy. A little investigation into his case reveals that he did not even share the picture, it just happened to appear on his timeline because somebody in his friends list had shared it. Amusingly, he was not even using the phone at that point in time. However, it sure played the most significant role in landing him in jail, for the most absurd of reasons.
It is now your social media activities that decide your fate because apparently the neutrality of courts and the justice system have long become a myth.
Most of us spend a huge amount of our times on social media everyday, liking and sharing stuff that we find interesting or even controversial. Unfortunately, the future of social media seems bleak with these kinds of cases sprouting up, every now and then.
What is most appalling at this point in time is the intensity with which our lives on social media are being regulated now. Nabeel is just one unfortunate example.
There are and have been several others like him. Mohammad Haider, a human rights lawyer based in Lahore, told that at the beginning of his career, he took up a case where a person was accused of blasphemy for merely quoting Salman Rushdie, without the mention of the notorious book Mr. Rushdie is infamous for, in an email. During one of its first few hearings, he blatantly presented his point of view in the court saying that he did not consider it a blasphemy.
“The court went silent and I was asked to come back again with proper preparation as apparently, I was not fully prepared for the case. I was, later on, reprimanded by a senior lawyer who told me that I, too, could have been accused of blasphemy for committing such a blunder”, said Haider.
Unfortunately, the section 295 (a), (b) and (c) of the Pakistan Penal Code do not take into account the intention of the person accused of blasphemy. The circumstances are never considered and consequently, anything can be labeled as blasphemy by anyone. There are no strong evidence requirements and the forensic techniques are so outdated that it takes months for the results to come out and even then they are not credible.
“The confusion arises when our police that doesn’t have proper understanding of the working of digital spaces and digital forensic evidence apply these traditional laws to the digital world. There are other cyber crime laws that could have been used in this case but it must be kept in mind that the idea of what can be offensive is highly subjective. The good news, however, is that Shazia Marri just raised this case in National Assembly and consequently, confronted the government on this issue blatantly. Moreover, Nabeel has been denied his fundamental right to fair trial for this could easily be a case of setting personal vendettas,” told Nighat Dad while talking to Mangobaaz.
As far as Nabeel is concerned, he awaits his fate in two days.
If you think there is a need to start actually thinking what consequences our actions might have, show your support under #SaveNabeel on Twitter and Facebook to spread awareness.
Moreover, in order to record your protest about the absurdity of jailing a 16 year old boy and not only ruining his life but also turning into a life-long hater of the justice system, and maybe even the Pakistani society, send a message to DPO Ali Nasir Rizvi at +92 (0) 322 4440512 .
A few messages sent to DPO of Nabeel's case. If you haven't already, please send one
DPO Ali Nasir Rizvi: +92 (0) 322 4440512#SaveNabeel pic.twitter.com/33FtMSAiqR— Shamila Ghyas (@ShamilaGhyas) October 3, 2016
Let’s put a full stop to the manipulation of religious laws that can lead to nonsensical cases like 16 year old Nabeel’s and channel our energies towards moving forward as a country.
Cover image via: Daily Pakistan