THE Foreign Office has spoken of continuing concerns over the safety of a Scot shot on death row in Pakistan, as an investigation indicates he was attacked by a prison guard who was radicalised by an inmate.
Lawyers acting for Mohammad Asghar have called on Prime Minister David Cameron to act now to bring him home after reports of the official investigation into the shooting appeared in the Pakistani media.
Mr Asghar, from Edinburgh, was sentenced to death in January after being convicted of blasphemy for claiming to be a prophet of Islam.
The 70-year-old, who is said to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, was shot and injured in Adiala prison in Rawalpindi last month.
Aamer Anwar, the family's solicitor, said repeated demands by the British Government and the British High Commission for the findings of the official inquiry into the shooting have been unsuccessful.
But reports in Pakistan indicate that the prison guard who shot Mr Asghar was incited to do so by Mumtaz Qadri, a policeman facing the death penalty for murdering Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.
"The accused (the prison guard) was deployed outside the cell of Mumtaz Qadri during the incident and he had confessed to taking religious lessons from him," a jail official said.
The official's account of events was reportedly supported by three other prisoners, who said guards regularly took religious instruction from Qadri.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are deeply concerned about the case of Mr Asghar, who was shot while on detention in prison in Pakistan. Consular officials continue to monitor his situation and are liaising with the hospital and prison authorities.
"We continue to work closely with the Pakistani government on this case. We have raised at the highest levels our desire that Mr Asghar's personal security is safeguarded, and that he is able to access the vital treatment that his medical condition requires, and that there is an urgent investigation into what happened.
"We have previously raised our concerns about his wider case, including through the former Foreign Secretary, and will continue to do so.
"It is crucial that concerns about Mr Asghar's safety and mental health are addressed and also taken into consideration during his appeal, and that his documented history of mental illness is taken into account."
Mr Anwar said: "Every minute that Mr Asghar spends in Pakistan jeopardises his life as well as those seeking his release.
"The PM must act now and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office needs to stop trying to silence the Asghar family and concentrate on bringing Mr Asghar home."
On October 17 Mr Asghar's daughter, Jasmine Rana, travelled from Edinburgh to present a 70,000-signature petition to Downing Street calling for Mr Cameron to intervene in her father's case.
It is understood that Mr Cameron has spoken to his counterpart in Pakistan and raised the issue.
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