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LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani authorities on Friday night arrested a far-right religious party leader whose supporters blocked major cities demanding tougher enforcement of strict blasphemy laws against terrorists. # 39; Islam.
PHOTO OF THE FILE: Khadim Hussain Rizvi, leader of the Pakistani Islamist political party Tehrik-e-Labaik during an interview with Reuters in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 14, 2018. REUTERS / Mohsin Raza / File Photo
Supporters of the prominent cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi clashed with police in Lahore, in the east of the country, shortly after his arrest, at least five people were injured, police said.
Earlier this month, Rizvi organized national demonstrations against the acquittal by the Supreme Court of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who had spent eight years on death row for blasphemy.
He had urged his supporters earlier in the day to go down the street when he was arrested, and his son said Friday night that he had been taken away during a raid on his religious school or school. madrassa in Lahore.
"The police raided our madrassa and arrested our revered chief," Saad Rizvi told Reuters by phone.
Rizvi leads the Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) party, which blocked roads in Pakistan's biggest cities for three days and threatened Supreme Court justices who acquitted Asia Bibi – urging their cooks and servants to kill them .
The TLP ended the initial protests following negotiations with the government and an agreement to open a review of the Bibi court decision.
Bibi and his family are hiding after his release, and the ultra-Islamist TLP party has declared that any sign of allowing him to leave the country would provoke new demonstrations.
His lawyer fled Pakistan, fearing to be killed.
The blasphemy against the Islamic prophet Mohammad is punishable by a mandatory death sentence in Pakistan, and the mere mention of blasphemy is enough to stir up violent reactions.
Bibi was sentenced in 2010 for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbors objected to her drinking glass water because she was not muslim. She has always denied blasphemy.
In 2011, a bodyguard assassinated the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, after he began to support Bibi and demand his acquittal. The TLP was founded by a movement that supported the assassin, Mumtaz Qadri.
Rizvi's detention on Friday night seemed to spark another clash, with the cleric urging his supporters to "scramble the whole country" if he were arrested.
"The whole nation must go to the field to protect the prophet's honor," he said in a video message published by the TLP. "There is no other option now."
Written by Kay Johnson; Edited by Toby Chopra
