LAHORE, Pakistan — A court docket in Pakistan acquitted Christian twin brothers of a false blasphemy accusation because the prosecution did not show fees in opposition to them, their legal professional stated.
Kasur Extra Classes Choose Farzana Shahzad ordered that 18-year-olds Sahil Shahid (referred to as Kalu) and Raheel Shahid (referred to as Tabish), be launched from jail after their protection group proved that they had been falsely charged and that police had did not correctly examine, stated legal professional Javed Sahotra.
Throughout cross-examination of eight witnesses, together with the investigating officer and the complainant, Sahotra requested if any of them may determine which quranic passage or verses had allegedly been desecrated by the brothers of Qulay Wala village in Kasur District, Punjab Province.
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“Neither the IO nor some other witness was ready to answer my query, which reveals that the proof that that they had submitted in opposition to the brothers had been fabricated,” Sahotra instructed Christian Day by day Worldwide-Morning Star Information. “Admitting my arguments, the honorable decide ordered the discharge of the twins and issued a discover to the Kasur district police officer to begin an inquiry in opposition to the IO for conducting a weak investigation.”
Sahotra stated he argued that Inspector Muhammad Saleem of Kasur Saddar Police Station was not certified to analyze the case.
“Although Saleem is serving as an inspector, he has solely obtained greater secondary training and is unable to learn or perceive the Arabic language,” he stated.
The twins have been launched from jail and have reunited with their household, he added.
The protection group additionally knowledgeable the court docket that the brothers had been falsely charged with the goal of instilling concern in Christians and forcing them to go away the village.
“We imagine that this case was a conspiracy in opposition to the Christian residents in order that vested pursuits may seize their land and properties,” Sahotra stated. “Nonetheless, well timed intervention of the police and our profitable protection of the victims scuttled their nefarious designs.”
The Shahid brothers had been arrested and charged with blasphemy on Aug. 27, 2024, after they had been accused of tearing pages of the Quran. Desecrating the Quran carries a life sentence in Muslim-majority Pakistan, however intent have to be confirmed for a conviction.
The complainant, Ghulam Mustafa, alleged within the First Info Report (FIR) that on Aug. 26, 2024, the brothers had desecrated quranic pages at an area village truthful.
The brothers are illiterate and belong to a poor household, rights activist Sajid Christopher beforehand instructed Christian Day by day Worldwide-Morning Star Information, including that members of the family surrendered them to police after officers took their mom and an uncle into custody.
Blasphemy Legislation amendments urged
Expressing alarm over a rise in false blasphemy accusations in Pakistan, the U.N. Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on Nov. 7, 2024, urged repeal or amending of the nation’s extensively condemned blasphemy legal guidelines.
The committee famous that false blasphemy accusations led to Islamist mob violence and really useful amending the legal guidelines in accordance with necessities of the Worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In its concluding observations of the committee’s second periodic report on Pakistan, it said concern over sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carry extreme penalties, together with the dying penalty, and have a disproportionate affect on spiritual minorities.
“It is usually involved concerning the rising variety of individuals incarcerated underneath blasphemy fees, the excessive variety of blasphemy circumstances primarily based on false accusations, violence in opposition to these accused of blasphemy, fostering vigilante justice, and allegations of entrapment of individuals, particularly younger individuals, on accusations of on-line blasphemy underneath cybercrime legal guidelines,” the committee said.
It emphasised ending use of cybercrime legal guidelines, such because the Prevention of Digital Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, to prosecute and detain these accused of breaching blasphemy legal guidelines on-line. The committee additionally urged the federal government to analyze allegations of large abuse of blasphemy legal guidelines in reference to cybercrime legal guidelines and publish the outcomes of the inquiries.
“[The committee] can also be involved concerning the chilling impact that felony defamation legal guidelines, blasphemy, sedition and counter-terrorism legal guidelines, and different lately handed laws have on the train of freedom of expression by journalists, activists, human rights defenders and members of ethnic and spiritual minorities,” it said.
Urging Pakistan to take all essential measures to ensure immediate and truthful trials for all individuals charged with blasphemy or different offenses in opposition to faith, the committee highlighted jail circumstances, stating that it was “additionally involved about reviews of abuse of girls prisoners, together with sexual violence, and that people accused of blasphemy are sometimes positioned in solitary confinement for prolonged intervals of time. It stays involved concerning the widespread recourse to extended pretrial detention.”
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Listing of essentially the most troublesome locations to be a Christian.
This text was initially revealed by Christian Day by day Worldwide–Morning Star Information
