Prime Minister David Cameron has joined in the efforts to bring back a 65-year-old Briton of Pakistani-origin, who was sentenced to death in Pakistan under the controversial blasphemy law.
Cameron said he was “deeply concerned” over the issue and his views had been made clear to Pakistani authorities.
Mohammad Asghar, from Edinburgh in Scotland, is being held in a high-security prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi since he was sentenced last week.
He was arrested in 2010 in Rawalpindi for writing letters claiming to be a prophet. Asghar has lived in the UK for 40 years and still has family in the country.
Foreign Office officials had a meeting with staff from Pakistan’s High Commission in London today soon after Cameron told the House of Commons that he had made his concerns known.
“I too am deeply concerned about this death sentence passed on to Mohammed Asghar and, as you know, it’s our long-standing policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances,” he said during Prime Minister’s Questions in answer to a question posed by Edinburgh East MP Sheila Gilmore.
“We take this extremely seriously and we’re making that clear at every level,” he said.
Cameron said Pakistani-origin Foreign Office Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi had contacted the chief minister of Punjab and the High Commissioner to Islamabad had raised the case with the relevant authorities.
In 2010, Asghar was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh and was subsequently diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Gilmore asked in Parliament: “I wrote to the Foreign Secretary yesterday, but can you now assure me that you and your ministers are doing everything they can to support this man and to see him returned to the UK where he can get the treatment he needs?”
Cameron replied: “I certainly can give you the assurance that you have asked for.”
In Pakistan, several persons have been sentenced to death under the harsh blasphemy law though none of them have been executed so far. Pakistani rights groups have criticised the law, saying it is often used to settle personal scores or to persecute minorities.