Police charges crowd at funeral for young man killed in prison for blasphemy in Pakistan

(September 17, 2009) Police used tear gas and charged mourners who had gathered for the funeral of Fanish Masih, the 20-year-old Christian man who was killed in prison during the night of 14 and 15 September. Police justified their action by saying that they wanted to prevent further disturbances during the burial of the young man who died in jail from injuries caused by his jailers. Nadeem Anthony, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported that Fanish was buried today in a Catholic cemetery in Sialkot. Hundreds of mourners took part in the ceremony. Using tear gas, police attacked people present and many were injured. They also arrested a number of Christians. The young man’s family protested; they placed his body in a central street of the town, and demanded that the police officers responsible for his death be arrested. The National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan has firmly condemned the “killing of Fanish in custody.” In a tough statement, Mgr Lawrence John Saldanha and Peter Jacob, respectively chairman and executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission, said they “refuse to accept the version of local authorities that he committed suicide spontaneously after he was shifted to jail from police lock up.” Catholic leaders have called for “a credible investigation” into what they consider a, evident case of “murder”. Those “responsible for the death of an innocent youth, directly or indirectly, should be brought to justice”, Mgrs Saldanha and Jacob said. The Catholic community is holding two days of mourning for the young man killed in prison