Anwar Kenneth wrote in 2001 letters that clearly included the ramblings of a psychiatric patient. Nonetheless, he was sentenced to death in 2002 and kept in jail.
Human rights organizations in Pakistan and abroad are campaigning for the liberation of Anwar Kenneth. He is a mentally ill man who has been sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2002 and has spent more than 23 years on death row. Campaigners want him liberated and placed under the care of a psychiatric institution, noting that he has remained in jail for years in confinement and with his legs shackled, rather than receiving proper psychiatric care.
The case of Anwar Kenneth tests the undefined borders between the ramblings of a psychiatric patient and blasphemy in Pakistan. At the beginning of our century, the man sent letters to religious scholars, ambassadors, and heads of state. Some of his comments were constructed as blasphemous towards Islam, but it is clear they represented the delusions of a mentally ill man.
Nonetheless, a FIR (First Information Report) was filed at Gawalmandi Police Station, Lahore, in 2001, leading to his arrest and trial under Pakistan laws against blasphemy. In 2002, he was sentenced to death. Pending appeal, he was later imprisoned. In 2014, a two-member bench of the Lahore High Court upheld the trial court’s verdict.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Anwar Kenneth consistently declined legal assistance, further manifesting his mental problems and stating that “God was his counsel.” Despite several efforts to assign state lawyers, five different legal counsels withdrew from representing him.
On 24th January 2023, the Supreme Court directed the Pakistan Bar Council to provide legal representation for Anwar Kenneth. In March 2024, after legal representation was finally arranged, the court sought opinions from religious institutions on the case. In December 2024, Anwar Kenneth was moved from Faisalabad Central Jail to Lahore Central Jail for a psychiatric evaluation at the Punjab Institute of Mental Health. A medical board diagnosed him with bipolar affective disorder, currently hypomanic, and recommended treatment at a psychiatric hospital.
It is now urgent that charges against Anwar Kenneth be dropped so that he may receive proper medical attention rather than continuing with the anguish of the death row, which has certainly made his condition worse.
Source: bitterwinter.org
Comments