US VP Requests Pakistan To Release Professor Junaid Hafeez

“In Pakistan, Professor Junaid Hafeez remains in solitary confinement on unsubstantiated charges of blasphemy,” Pence said.

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 23rd July, 2019) The US has requested the Pakistani government to release Professor Junaid Hafeez arrested on blasphemy charges.

US Vice President Mike Pence made the request while addressing a session on freedom of religion in Washington.

“In Pakistan, Professor Junaid Hafeez remains in solitary confinement on unsubstantiated charges of blasphemy,” Pence said.

He assured the prisoners that the American people stand with them.

“Today, the United States of America calls upon the governments of Eritrea, Mauritania, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia to respect the rights of conscience of these men, and let these men go,” he said in his address.

He also asked Saudi authorities to free Raif Badawi, a blogger jailed for 10 years in 2014 for allegedly insulting religious sentiments. “And in Saudi Arabia, blogger Raif Badawi is still in prison for the alleged crime of criticising islam through electronic means,” the US vice president added.

He went on to criticise Myanmar, China, Iran and Venezuela for their alleged human rights violations.

“We’re also standing up for the persecuted Rohingya people in Burma,” he said, and added, “We cannot ignore the rise of militant Buddhism against Muslim and Christian minorities that’s taken place.”