Pakistani Court Grants Christian Defendant Bail in a Blasphemy Case

The ACLJ’s international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice’s (ECLJ) office in Pakistan, the Organization for Legal Aid (OLA), has achieved another victory. A Christian man was falsely accused of burning pages of the Quran, an offense under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws punishable with life imprisonment.

The person who pressed charges against the Christian man had converted from Christianity to Islam in January of 2019 and had a property dispute with him.

In June of 2019, the Christian man’s accuser filed a complaint under section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, which prohibits defiling the Quran. He alleged that his wife returned to their home and discovered that it had been broken into, multiple items had been stolen, and a copy of the Quran had torn and pages burnt. The wife claims that, after asking around, she was able to determine that it was the Christian man who stole from her house and defiled the Quran.

Once our attorneys on the ground had met the family and discovered what had actually happened, they filed for the Christian man’s bail in July of 2019. We argued that 1) he was targeted in the blasphemy case due to mala fide intention (bad faith), 2) that the police had violated the required procedure in filing the charges, and 3) that none of the “witnesses” had actually seen him defiling the Quran. Due to the aforementioned issues, we argued that the court was required to offer him bail.

After the prosecutor was unable to refute our arguments, the court granted bail, stating that no direct evidence was available on record to show that he had entered the house and committed the alleged crimes. The Christian man is now out free on bail.

Based on the lack of evidence and the court’s remarks in the bail order, we are preparing to file a motion to dismiss the entire case against this Christian man. We will keep you updated as the case progresses. Please pray that his ordeal is soon over as this is clearly a false case filed as a result of a personal vendetta. We appreciate your continued support as we continue to fight for religious freedom domestically and internationally.