Save My Father Hector Aleem (written by Mehwish Aleem)

At a time that the United Nations calls Switzerland's ban on new minarets "clearly discriminatory and deeply divisive,” and the whole world is condemning the swiss for their vote, I would like to bring to the attention of the world my plight.

My name is Mehwish Aleem and my father (Hector Aleem) is a human rights activist in Pakistan. He has been working as a human rights activist since 1996. He is running an NGO with the name of PEACE WORLDWIDE. Hector Aleem has worked for Christians and Muslims without prejudice. But today he is in jail and could be killed at any time.

My father was working for a church destroyed by CDA (capital development authority) in Islamabad Pakistan. The church was destroyed because according to CDA it was built illegally. The charge was false.

There are many mosques in Islamabad (the capital of Pakistan) that are built with no permit, but no one will dare to touch them. For example, there was a vacant lot near my house and a Maulvi (Muslim leader) started to build a mosque on it. The land belonged to an absentee owner. When the owner learned about it, he started to destroy the illegally built mosque on his property. Hundreds of Muslims rioted and threatened to kill the owner of the land. As the result he give up his land in order to save his life. The government did not intervene. Churches on the other hand are destroyed by the governments’ own agents.

When Hector Aleem objected to the destruction of the church he faced with several lawsuits ranging from fraud to criminal charges. He fought all of them in the courts and proved his innocence.

His opponents tried to assassinate him several times. The Maulvies threatened him that if he continues to work for the church they would kill him and his sons, and would force his dughters to convert to Islam.

During this time Hector Aleem received a Peace award by Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani the prime minister of Pakistan. One month later, on 21st January, 2009 he was arrested by the police. They severely beat him and tortured him mentally and physically. After 24 hours of not knowing what were the charges, we were told that his offence is blasphemy, a charge that caries death penalty in Pakistan.

According to the first information report someone sent a blasphemous message to a leader of Sunni Tehreek (a Muslim extremist organization) and that sender had once contacted my father. So my father is guilty by association. Since they could not find the offender, they arrested my father.

Hector Aleem, is 51 years old and is a heart patient. He is not allowed to take his medication and is denied visitation. During his trial a large mob gathered in front of the court chanting slogans against him and threatened the judge that if he releases my father they will kill him themselves and they will destroy the court and will also kill the judge and the lawyer who defended my father. Under the mob’s pressure, the judge refused bail. The lawyer of the plaintiffs, who is a Maulvi, told the judge that if he releases my father, he (my father) will be killed as soon as he steps outside the court.

Then on 24 June 2009, chief justice of Pakistan Mr. Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudry granted my father bail, but the Maulvies lodged many other criminal cases against him so that he cannot come out.
Hector Aleem is still in jail. It is one year since his capture. The police are in cahoots with the Maulvies. Once two policemen went to my father’s cell and told him that even if he is granted a bail they will not let a blasphemer out. They will lodge so many cases against him that he will not be able to bear them. Soon after that they proceeded to lodge more charges against my father. They used to take him to the police station every fifteen days, where they beat him and torture him in front of the Maulvies and the Taliban.

I am begging for help. I plead to all those who champion the right of Muslims to build more minarets to also care about the minorities in Islamic countries. We are fighting for our lives. Are Muslim minarets more important than our lives of non-Muslims?

Please sign my petition. Please write to the Pakistani authorities listed bellow and ask them to release my father Hector Aleem as soon as possible. He is not guilty of any crime and the accusations of blasphemy that are made against him are false. They want to destroy him because he objected to the destruction of a church.

Today, all our family is in hiding. All of us have received death threats. My siblings and I have left our studies and hide for our safety. There is no future for us in our country. If my father is released he will be killed by the mob. We need to get out of Pakistan. Please help us if you can. We don’t know where to turn and whom to ask for help.

There is so much hoo-ha about the ban of minarets in Switzerland, but will anyone hear our cry?

Please make our cry reach to the ears of those who care more for human life than building minarets. We have done nothing wrong. Our only crime is to be Christians in an Islamic country.

Please contact these authorities and tell them to release my father. They know Hector Aleem is innocent, they are afraid of the mob. Your concern will give them the excuse to act.


Please also sign this petition

Please digg this article so it can be read by more people. The more people know about it and write to the Pakistani authorities, the more are the chances that my father is set free.
Thanks you for your concern.

Some of these addresses have emails; others have fax and phone numbers. Please contact them all and save our lives.

Asif Ali Zardari
President of Pakistan
publicmail@president.gov.pk
ppp@comsats.net.pk

Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani Prime minister of Pakistan Prime Minister House, Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: + 92 51 9221596 E-mail: webmaster@infopak.gov.pk

Supreme Court of PakistanConstitution Avenue, IslamabadTelephone: 051-9220581-9220600 Fax: 051-9213452
secretarygeneral@president.gov.pk

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari chairman@ppp.org.pk
Federal Minister of Law Justice and Human Rights S Block, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: +92 51 920 2628 E-mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
Mr. Rehman Malik Advisor for Ministry of Interior Room No. 404, 4th Floor, R Block, Pak Secretariat Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: +92 51 920 2624 Tel: +92 51 921 2026 E-mail: minister@interior.gov.pk
Mr. Mian Shahbaz Sharif Chief Minister of Punjab H-180 Model Town, Lahore PAKISTAN Fax: +92 42 5881383
Minister of Law Government of Punjab Punjab Secretariat Ravi Road Lahore PAKISTAN E-mail: law@punjab.gov.pk
Chief Secretary of Government of Punjab Punjab Secretariat Lahore PAKISTAN Fax: +92 42 7324489 E-mail: chiefsecy@punjab.gov.pk
Dr. Faqir Hussain Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan Constitution Avenue, Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: + 92 51 9213452 E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk

Mr. Syed Hamid Saeed Kazmi Minister for Religious Affairs Islamabad PAKISTAN Tel: +92 51 9214856 / 9206982 Fax: +92 51 9213593 E-mail: mra.hajj@gmail.com

Blasphemy In Pakistan

My name is Mehwish Aleem and my father (Hector Aleem) is a human rights activist in Pakistan. He has been working in Pakistan as a Human rights activist since 1996. He is running an NGO with the name of PEACE WORLDWIDE. Hector Aleem has worked for Christian and Muslims without any discrimination but he is in jail for one year. I will tell you how it started; my father was working for a church destroyed by CDA (capital development authority) in Islamabad Pakistan. The church was destroyed because according to CDA the church was built illegal. Let me tell you one thing, there are many illegal mosques in Islamabad (the capital of Pakistan) but if any body even tries to touch it, all Muslims gathers and than as a result no body dares to touch it. One example I have seen with my own eyes. There was a vacant land near my house and a Maulvi (Muslim leader) started to build a mosque on that land which belonged to someone else. The Maulvi and his followers built that mosque, than one day the owner came and tried to destroy the mosque but all Muslims gathered and the owner had to leave his own precious land. But when it comes to Christians or churches no body cares. So when Hector Aleem raised his voice for the destroyed church he faced many cases which were criminal and fraud cases. These cases were lodged to prove that Hector Aleem is a criminal. But all those cases were proved false by the courts. The opponents also tried to assassinate him several times. And he also received verbal threats by the Maulvies that if he continued the work for church or Christians they will kill him and his sons and make his daughters Muslim. During this time Hector Aleem received a Peace award by Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani the prime minister of Pakistan. Right after one month on 21 January 2009 Hector Aleem was arrested by the police, they beat him so bad and they tortured him mentally and physically. And after 24 hours we came to know that his offence is blasphemy 295c. 295ABC are the blasphemy offences, and Hector Aleem was working for these offences because these offences are being used as a tool to let Christians down by Muslims.
According to the FIR the (first information report) someone sent a blasphemous message to a leader of Sunni Tehreek (a Muslim extremist organization) and that sender once contacted Hector Aleem. And now instead of finding that sender they arrested Hector Aleem that he sent that blasphemous message.
Hector Aleem is 51 years old and he is a heart patient and he is not allowed to take his medicine and not allowed to visit his family. A big mob used to gather in front of court and they raised slogans against him and they threat the judge that if he releases him they will kill Hector Aleem themselves and they will destroy the court and the judge and the lawyer dealing Hector's case will be killed. That is why the judge from session court rejected his bail. The lawyer of the opponent party who is also a Maulvi threat the judge that if you release Hector Aleem we will take our own decision and will kill him outside the court.
Than on 24 June 2009 chief justice of Pakistan Mr. Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudry granted him bail but the Maulvies lodged many other criminal cases against him so that he cannot come out. Now Hector Aleem is still in jail. It has been one year since he is in jail. The police are also involved with the Maulvies and once two policemen went to Hector Aleem in jail and told him that even he is granted a bail they will not let a blasphemer out. They will lodge so many cases against him that he will not be able to bear them and than they started to lodge cases against him. They used to take him to the police station after 15 days and beat him and torture him in front of Maulvies and Taliban.
I want all of you to help us and write appeals to prime minister of Pakistan Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani and the president Mr. Asif Ali Zardari and the chief justice of Pakistan Mr. Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudry to release Hector Aleem as soon as possible because he is innocent.

More Cases are being lodged on Hector Aleem ( Written On May 2009 )

It is to inform all of you that Mr. Hector Aleem Country Director Peace Worldwide is in jail for a blasphemy offence and as he is in jail since 4 months, now another false case has been registered on him and the FIA police took him to the police station for seven days physical remand. The Sunni tehreek is behind all this and they are trying that Hector should not come out that’s why they are lodging many FIRs against him so that he could not come out.

He was working for human rights and Christian rights but he was sent to the jail in a false blasphemy case and he was beaten there and the police tried to make him give a statement that he did blasphemy. When the government officials were contacted they told everybody that he is in jail because of criminal offences. Our government hid the truth and gave false statements. Now today early in the morning he was taken to the special court in Rawalpindi and another FIR was lodged against him. Hector and his family are under the attack of Taliban. The Taliban are in direct contact with the Sunni Tehreek. They have prepared special pathans from Peshawar to trap him. The case they lodged against Hector is a case in FIA. And the FIR lodged against Hector is totally fake because it was lodged when he was in jail. How can he be in jail and commit another crime? I don’t know that what is happening in this country? On one side Hector is given a peace award and right after one month he was arrested in a criminal offence. Is he a criminal? The Islamists and talibans are trying to kill him.

I don’t know what they are going to do to with him he is a heart patient now he will be beaten by the police for another seven days. Where are the human rights organizations and all ministries? Are they sleeping? They are not going to wake up and a day will come when the saying of all those fundamentalists will come true that they are going to destroy Hector’s family his both sons and make his daughters and wife Muslims.

I have told everybody to pressurize the government to release Hector but nobody even wrote a letter to the government officials. What are you people waiting for? It is my request to please help us. If you have any queries you can call or investigate anything you want but please do something. We are one body of Christ we should help each other. All human rights organizations takes interest in blasphemy cases but nobody took interest in my father’s case. We are facing financial crisis for 4 months but nobody helped us. I am saying for 4 months that you should pressurize the government but nobody did. The license of our lawyer is going to be cancelled. Where should we get a lawyer from? when nobody is taking our case? Is this a justice? No one is with us, neither the government nor our Christian people. I don’t know what to do. It is my request to all of you to help us.

Mehwish Aleem

History Of Peace Worldwide!

Peace worldwide was established in 1996. It is a Christian organization working for human rights since 1996 without any discrimination but as a human rights activist Mr. Hector has faced many problems. His residence was looted in Karachi he then left Karachi with his family and shifted to Islamabad here he again started his work and established school for in which most of the students were Muslims. Then the Islamists attacked him in school and tried to kill him. Then he was again attacked by Muslim leaders they wanted to involve him in 295 BC, In this attack his leg was fractured. He also received a threat letter from an unknown person in which he wrote that Hector is working for America and he is an American agent and they will kill him and make his wife and daughters Muslim. Then on 3^rd of August 2004 a false case was registered against Mr. Hector for which he spent three months in prison and during this period the fundamentalists closed his school permanently and destroyed his office. Mr. Hector started his work once again. But again the fundamentalists tried to trap him because he was handling the church destroying case. Now they trapped him in blasphemy case because it is impossible to come out of jail in blasphemy offence. I want all of you to pressurize the government because the government is now not giving any response they are now saying that the blasphemy offence has finished and now other cases have opened.

• Why other cases have opened? So that he cannot come out?
• Why is he being tortured without any offence?
• The mullahs are not letting him out. And now the government is in pressure of the mullahs.
• If the government is in pressure of mullahs then how Hector can be saved? They could kill him during the investigation in lockup.
• Why other FIRs are lodging against him while he is in police custody?
• Are we living in the civilized world?
• Are Christian leaders safe in Pakistan?
• If Christian leaders are not safe then how can the public be safe?
• Why national, international human rights organizations and Christian organizations silent?

Hector has served poor and oppressed people of Pakistan during his work. I want all of you to pray for him. And pressurize the government to release him and assure the safety of his and his family’s life.

Hector Aleem Arrested in a false blasphemy case!

It is to inform that Hector Aleem country director Peace Worldwide has been arrested by police in midnight on 21^st of January 2009. Police raided the house in midnight without any lady police and beat him and his family. They took some costly things also and broke the door. They didn’t inform them that why are they doing this. The family didn’t know why he has been arrested. His family came to know that he is arrested in a blasphemy act 295-C after 24 hrs. According to the police Mr. Hector has said some bad comments about Prophet Muhammad PBUH which he didn’t. When the family insisted for the FIR (first information report), nobody gave them the FIR. Nobody let them visit him. Then after 24 Hrs. they let them see Hector but they didn’t let them talk to him. They beat him brutally, hit him on all joints by stick and didn’t give him anything to eat. They didn’t let him wear warm clothes and shoes. Hector Aleem is working for human rights since 1996. He is an active human rights activist. He works for Christians and Muslims without any discrimination.

Hector is being trapped in response of his work for Christians of Pakistan. On august 2008 a church was destroyed by CDA (capital development authority) in Islamabad shehzad town and Hector worked a lot for it. All legal documents are available. Than Hector became very active in that case which caused so much trouble for him and FIRs were being lodged on daily basis. Than WASA (water and sanitation agency) came into the case claimed that the land belongs to WASA and they will destroy the church because it is built on the filtration line. The Christian community became aggressive and they didn’t let them destroy the church. Hector Aleem supported them by taking this matter to the Human Rights Ministry of Pakistan. Then WASA lodged many FIRs against him with different complainants but as he was innocent he was getting free from all cases and now they trapped him in blasphemy case which is very dangerous and if anybody is involved in this case he gets death punishment. So they made this serious case so he cannot get out. Mr. Hector has been given a peace award by prime minister of Pakistan which is on record. And on 22^nd of December 2008 he was invited by President Asif Ali Zardari on a Christmas gathering in which other important and famous personalities were also invited. So it is very clear that he is very active in peaceful activities that government also realizes his work and appreciated his work.

Now nobody knows that where is he and what are they doing to him. Is he being tortured? I want all of you to help him and to pressurize the government to release him because person under the blasphemy offence can be killed by anyone, police or any extremist or he can be killed during his visit to the court. They keep that person separate and do everything to him which is against the human rights. I also want you to do something for his safety for his life is in danger. And as he is an innocent he must get free immediately.