Pakistan: Christian man gets death sentence in blasphemy case
The court, however, acquitted two other suspects -- Daud William and Shahid Aftab -- for want of evidence against them.
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has awarded a death sentence to a Christian man for committing blasphemy and implicating two fellow Christians in a false (blasphemy) case that caused an anti-Christian riot in a city of Punjab province in 2023, a court official said on Saturday.
Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Faisalabad judge Javed Iqbal Sheikh handed down the death penalty to the Christian man Pervez Masih under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code.
He also awarded him 10 year jail, with a total PKR 3 million fine under section 295-A of the PPC.
The court, however, acquitted two other suspects -- Daud William and Shahid Aftab -- for want of evidence against them.
In August 2023, allegations of blasphemy (that have since been proven false) against two Christian brothers -- Amer Masih and Umair Rocky Masih -- of Jaranwala in Faisalabad district of Punjab province, some 130kms from Lahore, led to a mob vandalising and destroying over 20 churches and more than 80 houses of Christian families.
“Convict Pervez Masih had thrown the burnt pages of the Quran outside the house of both Christian brothers in order to settle an old score with them. Masih had admitted in the court that he had planned to frame both brothers,” the official said.
After the Jaranwala incident, police had arrested Amer Masih and Umair Rocky Masih as some pages of the holy Quran were found outside their house. The incident sparked mob violence and riots. However, during investigations, Amer and Umair were declared innocent and acquitted by the ATC.
Police had later arrested Pervez and his two alleged accomplices for hatching a conspiracy to implicate Amer and Umair in a false blasphemy case by throwing the holy pages outside their house.
However, there has been no further action against Muslim persons involved in the Lahore incident, where over 20 churches and more than 80 houses of Christian families were vandalised and destroyed in August 2023.
Information received by Amnesty International through a Right to Information Request filed at the Punjab police shows that of the 5,213 suspects, only 380 were arrested, while 4,833 are still at large.
Of those arrested, 228 are now out on bail granted by the ATC in Faisalabad and 77 had the charges against them dropped.
Amnesty International said that around 40 per cent of the minority Christian families affected by the violence in Jaranwala are still awaiting government compensation.
