Pakistan

According to Amnesty International, the crackdown on freedom of expression intensified over the last years. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 was used to intimidate, harass and arbitrarily detain human rights defenders for online comments. Enforced disappearances are widespread, journalists face attacks and minorities are still discriminated.

Human rights defenders (journalists, bloggers, lawyers etc.) often face harassment, intimida- tion, threats, violence and enforced disappearance.

Honor killings are still carried out in Pakistan.

For Christians, it is very difficult to practice their faith in Pakistan. They are often victims of violent persecution. False accusations (Falschanklagen) under the blasphemy laws are quite common and are used to terrorize Christians.

Religious minorities face threats and attacks by extremist groups and the Pakistani society. The regime does not offer adequate protection.

Ahmadi are not perceived as Muslims by the regime and are criminalized and discriminated in the penal code. They are not allowed to identify themselves as Muslims and can be punished for certain religious practices. Ahmadi as well as Christians suffer under the blasphemy laws. Ahmadis as well as Christians are so far not seen by the BVGer as a group subject to increased persecution. However, their belonging to this group is seen as a strong indication of the re- moval being unreasonable.

Practical advice:

The blasphemy law is often used against Christians and Ahmadi. Most of the time, victims are accused only by pure suspicion. It is important that the client can describe in the interview in detail how it came to the accusation, what s/he thinks might have led to it, and what happened not only on the side of the government but also society as many victims not only face punishment by the state but also the civil society (e. g. lynching).