Pakistan: Five Christians acquitted from blasphemy charges

An anti-terrorism court in Lahore has acquitted five Christians accused of blasphemy. The case was registered on August 16, 2015 against 16 persons accused of having published material considered offensive to Islam.

The court had also added charges of "inciting sectarian hatred". Among the victims there was a Protestant Christian pastor Aftab Gill of Gujrat, who published a poster with the word "rasool" for his late father Fazal Masih, founder of his community. The Muslims were offended because the term "rasool" is an attribute of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement NGO, (CLAAS) is a Christian charity dedicated to helping persecuted Christians in Pakistan. CLAAS, which offers legal assistance to Christians, recalls that "the term 'rasool' is present in the Bible in Urdu and Christians had no blasphemous intent". In September last year the anti-terrorism court in Gujranwala denied bail to the accused Christians. Now, after a new intervention promoted by CLAAS, five believers were released.

"The abuse of the blasphemy law continues to attack Christians in Pakistan", CLAAS. said in a statement. Last month, at least three Christians were accused of blasphemy in Mandi Bahauddin, while in Gujrat a Christian seamstress, Sonia Gill, was accused for having sat on a cloth bearing the sacred Islamic verses. In recent months, in Faisalabad, Christian Usman Liaqat was charged with blasphemy for publishing some comments on social networks.

Many Christians, including Asia Bibi, who was sentenced to death in 2010 for blasphemy after drinking water from a Muslim neighbour's well, remain incarcerated.

For more information about CLASS see: www.claas.org.uk/