PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A Pakistani court has ruled that a China national arrested on blasphemy charges be held in jail for two weeks, pending trial, a police officer said Tuesday (Apr 14).
Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone convicted of blasphemy can be sentenced to death.
The Chinese man, identified by police only as Tian, was arrested on Sunday night, hours after hundreds of residents and labourers working on a dam project in the town of Komela in northwestern Pakistan blocked a key highway and rallied demanding his arrest.
Tian was part of a group of Chinese working on the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan. He was accused by Pakistani labourers of blasphemy after criticising two drivers working on the project of taking too much time to pray during work hours.
Tian was whisked away by helicopter from north-western Pakistan and brought before a court in the city of Abottabad, where he on Monday pleaded not guilty.
He also insisted that he did not insult Islam or the Prophet Muhammad, said Arshad Khan, a local police officer.