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Ayaz Nizami is a blogger and political prisoner in Pakistan known for his arrest on 24 March 2017 for alleged
blasphemy
Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
, and is currently facing the death penalty on such charges.
Biography
Early life
Nizami is a religious scholar, who primarily specialises in Islamic law such as "tafsir, Hadiths, Fiqh and their principles"; besides this, he is an expert in Arabic language, grammar, terminology, philosophy and rational thinking. He received his religious education after completing the standard education and was admitted to a religious school.Activism
Before his arrest, he allegedly translated materials critical of Islam in English to Urdu for publishing, and was first exposed by Alyan Khan, a Pakistani political author. Nizami founded the website ''realisticapproach.org'', a website in Urdu about irreligion, and allegedly served as the vice president of theAtheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan
Fauzia Ilyas (born 1989) is a Dutch Pakistani speaker, political activist, and the president and co-founder of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan. Ilyas, an open atheist and apostate of Islam, fled from Pakistan after receiving threats to her ...
.
Arrest
On 24 March 2017, Nizami was arrested for alleged blasphemy by the FIA, and agencies in Pakistan. Two other bloggers were arrested along with Nizami in a crackdown on social media content deemed blasphemous by the Pakistani government. After his arrest, the hashtag ''#hangayaznizami'' and #FreeAyazNizami was trending on Twitter in Pakistan, and authorities shut down his social media account over material deemed controversial.See also
*Freedom of religion in Pakistan
Freedom of religion in Pakistan is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan for individuals of various religions and religious sects.
Pakistan gained independence in 1947 and was founded upon the concept of Two-nation theory. At the time of ...
* Political repression of cyber-dissidents
References
People convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan Pakistani bloggers Living people Critics of Islam Pakistani atheists Pakistani former Muslims 21st-century atheists Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Internet censorship in Pakistan {{Pakistan-bio-stub