SYNOPSIS

BBC Storyville’s “The Accused: Damned or Devoted” is a modern-day inquisition. Against the backdrop of Pakistan's elections, this film follows the rise of powerful cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, on a mission is to preserve the country's blasphemy laws, which prescribe a mandatory death sentence for disrespecting The Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and life imprisonment for desecrating the Holy Quran. With millions sympathetic to his goal, Rizvi holds the country under his spell and silences anyone attempting to change the law by condemning them to death. As he pushes for more power, Rizvi decides to run for office in the upcoming general elections, and those accused of blasphemy or those who oppose the blasphemy laws- whether targeted minorities, liberals, and opposing Muslim voices - become the pawns of his ambition.

These include Patras and Asia Bibi. Two Christians who have been accused of committing blasphemy - Patras for allegedly sharing blasphemous content on social media, and Asia for allegedly uttering blasphemous words during an argument with a co-worker. Awaiting their trials, chances look grim for these two in the run up to elections, where even moderate front runner Imran Khan appears to support the Blasphemy Law. Despite Cleric Rizvi’s political strategy of crushing dissenters, brave opposing voices emerge. Narrowly escaping a lynch mob, Gulalai Ismail, who was falsely accused of blasphemy, decides to countersue her accuser and the judicial system in Pakistan becomes a battleground. With access to all sides revealing the interplay of religion and politics, "The Accused: Damned or Devoted" is a crucial election story of fledgling democracy that is not only a key ally in the global war against terror, it is also a nuclear power. 

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

This project is the most dangerous film I have ever worked on. Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws prescribe a mandatory death sentence for disrespecting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Even Pakistanis who have criticized the law for being too harsh risk being charged with blasphemy or assassinated themselves. I refused to possibly explore this topic when I was first approached.

Then in November 2017, the Pakistani Parliament passed legislation that was considered a first step towards relaxing the Blasphemy Law. Suddenly, Cleric Rizvi, the leader of a religious political party (and a primary subject in our film) descended on Islamabad and essentially put the whole city under siege.

As I was in Islamabad at that time, in front of my eyes, I saw parliament immediately back track and rescind the legislation. Rizvi had won. My country had once again fallen prey to the political ambitions of a despot, one who was using Islam as veneer. Ultimately, I wanted to expose Rizvi - he did not speak for me or other Muslims, he only spoke for his own political ambitions. In doing so, he was also responsible for the lynching of several minorities and Muslims who had been falsely accused of blasphemy. He had to be stopped. This was what motivated me to make this film.

 BIOGRAPHIES

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER – MOHAMMED ALI NAQVI

Mohammed Ali Naqvi (Mo) is an internationally celebrated filmmaker, whose work has won over forty prestigious awards and honours, including a Television Academy Honour (Special Emmy), two Amnesty International Human Rights Awards, and a Grand Prix from the United Nations Association Festival. He has been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, an Emmy, a Cinema Eye Honour, and the UNESCO-FELLINI Prize.

Mohammed (Mo) Naqvi's latest documentaries are Insha'Allah Democracy (STARZ, BBC), featuring fly-on-wall access to notorious military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, and Among the Believers (Netflix, PBS World) an up-close and personal chronicle of ISIS supporter & Taliban ally Abdul Aziz Ghazi. Other documentary credits include Pakistan’s Hidden Shame (Channel 4 UK, ABC Australia), Shabeena’s Quest (Al-Jazeera World), Terror's Children (Discovery) and Shame (Paramount/ Showtime) profiling international human rights icon Mukhtaran Mai. In addition, Mo has produced fiction feature films including Big River and I Will Avenge You Iago, starring Giancarlo Esposito and Larry Pine.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – FIONA STOURTON

Fiona Stourton is a multi-award winning Executive Producer who worked for both the BBC and ITN, before joining the independent television sector.

A graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, Fiona worked first in radio for the BBC Africa Service and then moved into television as a News trainee. She has worked as a producer in BBC radio and TV newsrooms and the current affairs department and as a reporter and presenter on Channel 4 News (ITN).
As an Executive Producer, Fiona’s awards include International Documentary and Current Affairs prizes from the Royal Television Society, Peabody, Dupont, Golden Nymph, Monte Carlo, Amnesty International, Grierson and BAFTA and EMMY nominations.

Most recent productions include Saudi Women’s Driving School for HBO and Brexit Behind Closed Doors for BBC Storyville, ZDF ARTE and a range of international broadcasters. 

CO-PRODUCER - SYED MUSHARRAF SHAH

Syed Musharraf Shah is a documentary producer based in Peshawar, Pakistan. He started his film career with BBC Panorama in 2008 and later started focusing on producing feature documentaries. His credits include Emmy nominated feature documentary Among the Believers (PBS), Insha’Allah Democracy (BBC), Pakistan’s Hidden Shame (Channel 4), and Shabeena’s Quest (Al Jazeera). And co-directed feature documentary Genesis (Memento Production, Sweden). His non-fiction credits include Happy Things in Sorrow Times (Tehmina Durrani).

He is a recipient of the HDI Fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. embassy in Pakistan. His current projects include The Ballad of Exiled a story of displaced musicians from tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

CO-PRODUCER - MOHSIN ABBAS

Mohsin Abbas is an award-winning Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and press freedom activist. He has worked for many years as news/investigative reporter, producer and fixer for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and film in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, (South Asia) Canada and Chile. Currently he is a contributor for BBC News Punjabi Service from Canada.

Since 1994, Abbas has written and produced for Daily Pakistan, BBC World Service, CBC Canada, Deutsche Welle, New York Post, the Toronto Star, the Hamilton Spectator, The Santiago Times, Vision Television, Prince Albert Daily Herald and Pakistan’s prestigious daily Dawn.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER - MADEEHA SYED

Madeeha Syed is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, investigative journalist and radio correspondent based in Pakistan. She has over 17 years of experience in journalism and started her career with Dawn, Pakistan's most widely-circulated and oldest English newspaper. Her work has been featured on media organisations such as Dawn, Herald, BBC, Channel 4, HBO, Channel News Asia and Süddeutsche Zeitung among others. 

A lot of her films have dealt with issues related to religious, gender and sexual minorities. She has followed murder investigations into honour crimes (The Killing of Qandeel Baloch, BBC), the issues surrounding the LGBT community (How Gay Is Pakistan?, BBC) and on Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws (Banged up for Blasphemy, Channel 4) among other issues.

Several of her films are shown and taught at local universities in Pakistan as a part of their media and gender studies programmes.

ADDITIONAL EDITOR - KAMRAN SHAHNAWAZ

Kamran Shahnawaz is a Karachi-based film editor, honing his craft since 2016.

His editing career started off with his award-winning short documentaries, successfully hitting the local circuit with the Don Akhbar (KLF/EACPE), surrounding the newspaper controlled by violent gangs of Lyari; and Hidayatkar (DW/Dawn), about a Pakistani fisherman who single-handedly produced 14 feature films. He further served as a Post Producer for Dawn's youth-centric digital subsidiary, Teeli, as well as Dawn News' feature documentary, Zer-e-Zameen.

His recent notable projects include post production of Churails, an original fiction series running on Zee TV's streaming platform, Zee5

COMPOSER  - TONI MARTIN DOBRZANSK

Toni Martin Dobrzanski is an award-winning Danish composer with Polish roots. Through years of working as a composer, Toni Martin Dobrzanski has created soundtracks for multiple award-winning feature films like Backgammon and Blurred Vision, award-winning documentaries Child of Iraq and Insha’Allah Democracy, theatre plays like En Annan Värld, Oscar Liljas Försvinnande and Cyrano de Bergerac at Malmö City Theatre, dance shows like Synaptic Motion at the YBCA in San Francisco, commercials for high end brands and has worked with directors and production companies in countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, UK, USA, Russia and others.

The music of Toni Martin Dobrzanski has been recorded with orchestras like Budapest Art Orchestra, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Silesian Art Ensemble and DR RUO. He has also been exploring an analogue electronic based sound in conjunction with performing live in stage plays. Taking knowledge from the film industry to the world of theatre he has been interweaving sound design with the musical score and working creatively with multi-channel surround in stage performances.