Award to Muslim cleric withdrawn over bin Laden remarks

Last week, the Archbishop of Canterbury withdrew an award he had bestowed upon Muslim cleric Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, who had praised Osama Bin Laden. The award was presented to Ashrafi on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in recognition of his work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan. It was during this ceremony that the backlash began, following revelations that Ashrafi had previously praised Bin Laden for fighting against the Russians, Americans and British, in comments he made in 2007.

He also reportedly intended to bestow the title "Sword of God" upon Bin Laden. Ashrafi claimed his remarks had been taken out of context and were merely a response to the controversy surrounding the knighthood awarded to author Salman Rushdie, a claim he defended at the time. However, the backlash extended beyond his comments about Bin Laden.

Despite his support for Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which have resulted in the prosecution of an estimated 2,000 people since the late 1980s, including a disproportionate number of Pakistan's minority Christians and Ahmadis, Ashrafi's actions came under scrutiny. Human Rights Watch criticized Pakistan's blasphemy laws, stating that they perpetuate religious discrimination and are used to target the poor and minorities in unlawful evictions and land grabs.