The Eleventh Circuit has remanded a case in which asylum was denied to a Pakistani Ahmadi Muslim. The court noted that the Pakistani penal code bans Ahmadis from preaching or propagating their religious beliefs. “The record indicates that Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws prohibit Ahmadis from professing core tenets of their faith by making it a crime to defile the Prophet Muhammad and by interpreting a central tenet of the Ahmadi faith as doing so. In fact, the record suggests that both the Pakistani state and the public use the anti-blasphemy laws to specifically target, harass, and abuse Ahmadis. Though Ahmadis constitute less than five percent of the population, they represent nearly forty percent of those arrested for blasphemy.” Pakistan prevents the construction of mosques by Ahmadis, prohibit the publication of their religious texts, and intimidate them at the voting polls. where they are kept on a separate voter roll.
“his evidence does not compel a finding of persecution, though the Board is certainly free to conclude as much on remand. But the evidence must be wrestled with. The Board can explain why it accords certain highly relevant evidence less weight than other evidence—or why it discredits that evidence altogether. Or it can explain why the evidence does not meet the legal standard of religious persecution.”
The full text of Ali v. Attorney General can be found here:
http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201714332.pdf