The criminal group allegedly abducted, tortured, and extorted people accused of blasphemy in Pakistan
A Pakistani Muslim cleric honored by Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally has been accused of protecting an alleged extortion gang linked to abductions and torture, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.
The head of the Church of England withdrew an interfaith award from Tahir Ashrafi, Pakistan’s special envoy on interfaith harmony, last week, just six days after presenting it to him.
According to The Telegraph, Ashrafi’s brother allegedly leads a so-called “blasphemy gang” in Pakistan that entraps young men online and blackmails them with threats of prosecution under the country’s blasphemy laws. The newspaper said the group was behind “a huge surge” in the number of people jailed for blasphemy in recent years. Blasphemy can carry the death penalty in Pakistan.
Ashrafi has publicly defended his brother and called a judge investigating the alleged gang a “dog,” according to the British newspaper.
Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights has said the group used women operating under pseudonyms to lure men into making blasphemous statements online. Those targeted were then frequently detained by “private individuals rather than law enforcement,” subjected to torture and denied access to legal assistance, according to the state human rights watchdog.
Relatives of alleged victims told The Telegraph they were “shocked” to see Ashrafi receive the British award. They claimed the cleric played the “good cop” while his brother acted as the “bad cop,” entrapping and rounding up victims. The newspaper said the relatives were granted anonymity because of fears of reprisals.
Ashrafi has denied any wrongdoing.
The controversy comes amid heightened scrutiny in Britain of crimes linked to gangs involving men of Pakistani heritage, following years of revelations about organized child sexual exploitation in towns and cities across the country.
An inquiry funded by Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe reported in June that it had identified evidence of grooming gangs operating across 149 of the UK’s 317 local authority districts. The report determined that a “bare minimum” of 250,000 women and girls were raped by grooming gangs since the year 2000, and that senior politicians helped the gangs escape prosecution.
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