Via Kashif Chaudhry:

This is Junaid Hafeez. He is from Rajanpur, Pakistan. He is an F.Sc Gold Medalist, a Fulbright Scholar who studied at Jackson State University where he majored in American literature, photography and theater. He was serving as a visiting lecturer at the English Department of Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan (Pakistan) when in 2013, he was accused of blasphemy by the students of the extremist Islami Jamiat Tulaba and Tehrik-Tahafuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat groups.

Consequently, he was expelled from the university and arrested by Pakistani authorities. A case was registered under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and Junaid has since been rotting in a Multan Jail. His first defense lawyer, Mr. Rashid Rahman, was gunned down by extremists for merely taking up his case.

Mashal Khan’s case was very painful and unfortunate, and we now owe it to his memory to discuss this ‘blasphemy’ issue widely and take it into the mainstream. There are numerous more victims in jails across the country. This religious extremism problem is systemic, and We MUST own it. That is the first step to remediation. We MUST recognize that we are a nation obsessed with murder in the name of the Prophet who came to grant life and mercy.

We are barbaric. We are ruthless. Our blood-lust did not stop with the Ahmadi Muslims. It did not stop at the Shia Muslims, the Christians and the Hindus. Now even Sunnis who dare to question and have a different worldview are labelled ‘liberal’ and lynched or thrown in jails. No matter how many condemnations by the PM, the State is an active party to this madness.

I urge you all to raise your voice for Junaid Hafeez and write and speak about this issue. Urge the Pakistani State to release him, especially when there has been NO evidence found against him over the last so many years. #IAmJunaidHafeez (Profile details via Taliban are Oppressors – Zalimaan)