Dr.Younus Shaikh is free and in safety!

Rationalist International has received confirmed information that our rationalist friend and colleague from Pakistan Dr. Younus Shaikh has reached a safe haven in Europe!

The long fight for his life and freedom, in which thousands of supporters and various organizations around the world have participated, has finally been successful!

Sentenced to death in August 2001 in a made-up blasphemy trial, Dr. Shaikh was languishing in solitary confinement in one of the dreaded death cells of Rawalpindi Central Jail for more than two years, before the High Court, after a conflicting decision in the appeal trial, referred the case back to the sessions court [Bulletin # 117].

The retrial took place in greatest secrecy and under heavy security in the jail itself. Dr. Shaikh, who had personally overtaken his defense, was acquitted and released. He dispensed with government provided security guards and returned into the circle of his family and friends, where he spent some weeks in hiding before secretly leaving Pakistan.

We feel great relief and happiness about this outcome and satisfaction about the fact that the worldwide campaign for the rescue of Dr. Shaikh has finally been successful. Among many forces inside and outside Pakistan, friends and associates of Rationalist International have vigorously contributed to this outcome. During the last three years, we have again and again received copies of thousands of letters and petitions from all over the world to the Government of Pakistan, calling for Dr. Shaik's unconditional release and demanding adequate security measures to protect his life in a country, where so many blasphemy accused and acquitted have been murdered by religious fanatics.

The case of Dr. Shaikh is only the most publicized among hundreds of blasphemy cases in Pakistan. The fight against the draconian blasphemy law, the bloody weapon in the hands of religious fundamentalists and unscrupulous forces acting in their shadow, has to continue till this inhuman and antidemocratic law is abolished.

We express our great respect for the brave and courageous fighters at this front inside Pakistan: the lawyers, who defended Dr. Shaikh and are continuously defending other blasphemy accused at the risk of their own lives, and the committed and courageous members of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), without whose silent support our common efforts may not have succeeded.