Pakistani Judges Convicting People of ‘Blasphemy’ Without Evidence, Says U.N. Expert

A visiting U.N. human rights expert has drawn fresh attention to the abuses arising from Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, reporting that fear of reprisals result in intimidated judges bringing convictions without evidence while lawyers avoid taking up cases.

The criticism by Gabriela Knaul, a “special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers,” came at the end of an 11-day visit to Pakistan to study the country’s judicial system, the first by a U.N. human rights expert since 1999.

Pakistan generally manages to sidestep censure at the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body in which it wields
substantial influence through its leadership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). But although the post held by Knaul, a Brazilian judge, reports to the HRC, it is also independent.

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