Pakistan: Christian Man Sentenced To Mandatory Life Imprisonment For Alleged Insulting Comment About Muhammad
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – An Additional Sessions Court in Punjab Province, Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to life imprisonment for allegedly posting a blasphemous remark about the Islamic prophet Mohammed while using a phone that had actually been stolen from him. Fanson Shahid was convicted after being tortured into confessing to the charge, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
A member of the Full Gospel Church, Shahid, 56, was arrested at his home in Lahore in March 2022, after police were alerted that a blasphemous comment had been posted through his phone, MSN reports. Although the phone had been stolen from him in 2019, the police beat Shahid so violently that he confessed. Shahid’s wife said in a statement at the time of her husband’s arrest: “We believe that the lost phone was misused by someone to post the blasphemous comment, because my husband did not use a passcode for its security, and his Facebook account was also logged in,” MSN reports.
On Jan. 24, Justice Zafar Yab Chadhar of the Additional Sessions Court Gujranwala District, Punjab Province, convicted and sentenced Shahid under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes, which calls for a mandatory death sentence for insulting comments about Muhammad, MSN reports. “If a single doubt or ground is available creating reasonable doubt in the mind of the court/judge to award even death penalty or life imprisonment, it would be sufficient circumstance to adopt alternative course by awarding life imprisonment instead of death sentence,” Chadhar wrote in his ruling.
Shocked by the verdict, Shahid’s family is seeking finances for an appeal which must be made within 30 days of the verdict. “We were praying for Shahid’s acquittal because he’s innocent, but the verdict has shattered our hopes for justice,” his sister, Sonia Shahid, told MSN.
In a website statement about the dangerous situation facing Christians in Pakistan, the Open Doors Christian advocacy group notes: “Since by far the most Christians live in Punjab Province, many incidents of persecution, discrimination and intolerance occur there…Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws are often used to target minority groups, but Christians are disproportionately affected. Indeed, roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians, who only make up 1.8% of the population.”
Ruled by harsh Islamic regime, Pakistan ranks 7th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
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