Police on Wednesday refused to keep engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza in custody after a four was filed against the religious scholar on blasphemy accusing a complaint that was filed before his so -called arrest.
Until Tuesday, the Punjab police had maintained that the priest was not arrested and had been taken into “preventative custody” considering threats of secretary violence under section 3 of the Public Order Regulation (MPO). Police had insisted that there were no criminal charges against the engineer.
Later that day, however, a blasphemy case was filed against engineer Mirza in accordance with section 295-C of Pakistan Criminal Code (PPC) and section 11 of the Act on the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (PECA) 2016.
Section 295-C of PPC states that every person, whether spoken or written, making derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) must be punished at death and will also be fined.
Section 11 of the PECA relates to the preparation and spread of any information through any vertical that motivates interreligion, sectarian or racial hatred, is punished by imprisonment for a period of seven years and or a fine.
Read: Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza held in ‘Preventative withholding’
Mirza was taken into custody by the Jhelum police under section 3 of MPO Monday. According to section 3 of the MPO, the authorities have the power to arrest and withhold suspects to prevent “any person from acting in any way that is harmful to public security” or to maintain public order.
According to FIR, which was filed on Tuesday night at Jhelum City Police Station, the complainant has claimed that there is a criminal video of Mirza circulating online that is disrespectful to the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The complainant has also accused the pastor of giving wrong statements when referring to Surah Al-Nisa in the said video, also published on Mirza’s YouTube channel.
Mirza’s YouTube channel has over three million sub -ships. He also runs a center, the Koran-O-Sunnat Research Academy, which was also closed by police.
Mirza was indicted for blasphemy in 2023. He was accused of insulting the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and neglected the non-Muslim status of Ahmadis. The charges were later placed.
The blasphemy laws have long been a contentious question in Pakistan, with repeated calls to the state to limit their abuse.
