Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagfuta Kausar

PAKISTAN DECRIES EU PARLIAMENT’S MOVE ON BLASPHEMY LAWS

May 4, 2021:

Pakistan on 30 April 2021 decried a move by the European Parliament, which a day earlier adopted a resolution demanding Islamabad allow freedom for religious minorities and asked the EU to reconsider the South Asian country’s preferential trade status.
The European Parliament appealed on Islamabad to free a Christian couple — Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel — who have been on death row since 2014. The two were convicted of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
It also urged Pakistani authorities to repeal the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, provide Kausar and Emmanuel with needed medical care and “immediately and unconditionally” overrule their death sentence.
It also expressed concern at increasing online and other attacks on journalists and
human rights activists and asked Pakistan to take steps to ensure their safety.
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone accused of insulting Islam can be sentenced to death if convicted. Just the mere accusation of blasphemy can cause riots and incite mobs to violence and killings.
The foreign ministry in Islamabad released a statement expressing the government’s disappointment at the European resolution, saying it “reflects a lack of understanding in the context of blasphemy laws and associated religious sensitivities in Pakistan — and in the wider Muslim world”.