DAVID CAMERON has warned Pakistan over the case of a mentally-ill Scottish grandfather sentenced to death under the country's blasphemy laws.
The Prime Minister said he was "deeply concerned" about the case of Mohammad Asghar, 69, from Edinburgh.
His comments yesterday in the Commons came just hours before Foreign Office representatives were due to meet with staff at the Pakistan High Commission in London.
Mr Cameron said the UK Government was doing everything in its power to express its opposition to the death sentence.
In answer to a question from Edinburgh East Labour MP Sheila Gilore at Prime Minister's Questions, he said: "I too am deeply concerned about this death sentence passed on to Mr Mohammad Asghar and, as you know, it's our long-standing policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances.
"The Pakistani authorities can be of no doubt of the seriousness with which we view these developments."
He said Foreign Office Minister Baroness Warsi had spoken to the Chief Minister of the Punjab on Monday and that the High Commissioner in Islamabad is continuing to raise the case with the authorities there.
He added that Foreign Office officials are meeting Pakistan High Commission officials in London today to discuss his and other cases.
Mr Cameron added: "We take this extremely seriously and we're making that clear at every level."
Ms Gilmore had told the Prime Minister that Mr Asghar had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2010 and had been treated for the condition in Edinburgh "but the judges refused to take that into account".
Mr Asghar received the death penalty after he wrote letters in which he claimed to be the Prophet Mohammad. The death sentence against the elderly Briton, who returned to Pakistan in 2010, was delivered late last week.
However, questions have been raised over Mr Asghar's trial after it emerged that lawyers were blocked from visiting him on numerous occasions.
Meanwhile, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has called on Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise the issue of blasphemy laws with the Pakistani authorities.
The Right Reverend Lorna Hood has written to Mr Hague over the Church's concerns about a recent ruling from Pakistan's Federal Shariah Court (FSC), saying the death penalty should be the only punishment for anyone convicted of blasphemy.
Rev Hood says that the Church fears that the law will be used to persecute non-muslims and those with minority beliefs in Pakistan.
Her letter sates: "Christians and other non-Muslims would face restrictions and thus achieving justice could be more difficult.
"The Church of Scotland fears that if the FSC order is implemented the misuse of blasphemy laws which, we already know and even some of the Pakistani politicians have admitted, are being used to settle personal scores, will increase and victims from minority faith communities will become even more vulnerable than at present."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article