Haroon Shahzad with lawyer Aneeqa Maria. (Christian Day by day Worldwide-Morning Star Information)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Day by day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – A court docket in Pakistan in September acquitted a Christian charged with blasphemy, however his supporters didn’t reveal it till this month as a consequence of safety issues, his lawyer mentioned.
Sargodha Justice of the Peace Syed Faizan-e-Rasool on Sept. 27 acquitted 47-year-old Haroon Shahzad of the false blasphemy cost by Muhammad Imran Ladhar on June 30, 2023, after the Muslim complainant retracted his allegation, Christian lawyer Aneeqa Maria mentioned.
Ladhar made the allegation after Shahzad posted Bible verses on Fb. Shahzad, who was granted bail on Nov. 6, 2023 and has been in hiding since then, didn’t make the acquittal public earlier as a consequence of safety issues, Maria added.
“Although the complainant, who was additionally the prime prosecution witness, exonerated Shahzad of the allegation, the general public prosecutor insisted that remaining prosecution proof was enough to convict the accused,” she instructed Christian Day by day Worldwide-Morning Star Information. “Nonetheless, the Justice of the Peace famous that cross-examination of the prime witness by the general public prosecutor had additionally didn’t favor the prosecution and the case had been dented past restore.”
The decision additionally noticed that the Bible was undisputedly revered by Muslims, and that the Quran additionally known as on Muslims not choose those that consider within the gospel. The Justice of the Peace then went on to acquit Shahzad of the fees framed beneath sections 295-A and 298 of Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes, the lawyer mentioned.
Part 295-A pertains to “deliberate and malicious acts supposed to outrage spiritual emotions of any class by insulting its faith or spiritual beliefs” and is punishable with imprisonment of as much as 10 years and high quality, or each. Part 298 prescribes as much as one yr in jail and a high quality, or each, for hurting spiritual sentiments.
“The decision lays naked the profound fragility of justice itself,” Maria mentioned. “It reveals a system during which a person’s liberty, dignity and whole future might be held hostage by a flawed course of, the place an accusation alone can unleash turmoil, flip lives the other way up and go away households shattered.”
The court docket has rightly highlighted the injustice on this occasion, she famous.
“But we’re compelled to ask: What number of others, with out such a transparent retraction, endure the identical grinding ordeal?” Maria mentioned. “What number of lives are left scarred by a course of that ought to defend, not punish, the harmless?”
Shahzad, a paint contractor, on June 29, 2023 posted on his Fb web page 1 Cor. 10:18-21 relating to meals sacrificed to idols, as Muslims have been starting the four-day pageant of Eid al-Adha, which includes slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat. A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the publish, despatched it to native social media teams and accused Shahzad of likening Muslims to pagans and disrespecting the Abrahamic custom of animal sacrifice.
Although Shahzad made no remark within the publish, inflammatory or in any other case, the scenario turned tense after Islamic Friday prayers when bulletins have been constructed from mosque loudspeakers telling folks to assemble for a protest. Fearing violence as mobs grew within the village, most Christian households fled their properties, leaving the whole lot behind.
Beforehand Shahzad instructed Morning Star Information that the complainant, Ladhar, mentioned to be a member of the now proscribed Islamist extremist get together Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and likewise allegedly related with banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, filed the cost due to a grudge.
In response to Shahzad, he and his household had obtained useful authorities land and allotted it for building of a church constructing, and Ladhar and others had filed a number of circumstances towards the allotment and misplaced all of them after a four-year authorized battle.
Relating to the social media publish, Shahzad mentioned he had no intention of wounding Muslim sentiments by sharing the biblical verse on his Fb web page.
“I posted the verse per week earlier than Eid al-Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice] however I had no concept that it might be used to focus on me and my household,” he mentioned. “In reality, once I got here to know that Ladhar was frightening the villagers towards me, I deleted the publish and determined to fulfill the village elders to elucidate my place.”
Pakistan, whose inhabitants is greater than 96 % Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Checklist of essentially the most troublesome nations the place it’s most troublesome to be a Christian.
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