Pro-Taliban Imam arrested after refusal to condemn Peshawar massacre

Maulana Abdul Aziz (R) pictured at a press conference in February 2014. Reuters

An arrest warrant has been issued for the radical pro-Taliban imam in Pakistan who refused to condemn the massacre of children at a school.

Senior Civil Judge Saqib Jawad issued the warrant against Imam Maulana Abdul Aziz after he was accused of threatening protesters outside the Red Mosque in Islamabad. The protest was staged over his refusal to condemn the massacre.

Of the 152 people murdered when Taliban terrorists opened fire in an army-run school in Peshawar in December, 133 were children.

Alhough the warrant was non-bailable, Imam Aziz said: "My case is very small and even a sub-inspector can grant me bail." Aziz himself runs a school which recently renamed its library after the late al-Qaeda murderer and terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on the death penalty for terrorists in response to the murders, along with new military courts to try terror cases. The prime minister said this week that in Pakistan there could be "no place for terrorism, extremism, sectarianism and intolerance."

A spokesman for the imam's Lal Masjid Shuhada Foundation said Aziz will resist arrest.

related articles
Peshawar: More than 120 dead in Taliban attack on Pakistani high school
Peshawar: More than 120 dead in Taliban attack on Pakistani high school

Peshawar: More than 120 dead in Taliban attack on Pakistani high school

Peshawar attack: \'Things are very bad for our city\'
Peshawar attack: 'Things are very bad for our city'

Peshawar attack: 'Things are very bad for our city'

After the Pakistan school attack: mourning, mass funerals and calls for vengeance
After the Pakistan school attack: mourning, mass funerals and calls for vengeance

After the Pakistan school attack: mourning, mass funerals and calls for vengeance

Arrests made in Pakistani school massacre
Arrests made in Pakistani school massacre

Arrests made in Pakistani school massacre

2014 in review: where was God in a dark year?
2014 in review: where was God in a dark year?

2014 in review: where was God in a dark year?

News
Gateway Church founder Robert Morris charged with child sex abuse
Gateway Church founder Robert Morris charged with child sex abuse

Robert Morris, founding pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child by a multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma on Wednesday. The indictment stems from allegations made by Cindy Clemishire last June that he sexually abused her over multiple years in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12.

Former Conservative MP has 'no confidence' in assisted dying bill safeguards
Former Conservative MP has 'no confidence' in assisted dying bill safeguards

A Former Conservative MP has "no confidence" in assisted dying bill safeguards

Former bishop gets four years for historic sex offences
Former bishop gets four years for historic sex offences

The former Bishop of Swansea and Brecon has been sentenced to just over four years in prison after admitting sex offences against a young boy.

Why doesn’t the media understand religion?
Why doesn’t the media understand religion?

How can anyone understand our 21st century world without knowing how religious faith impacts global, national and regional events?