Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife Shagufta Masih

PAKISTAN: COURT ACQUITS CHRISTIAN COUPLE OF ‘BLASPHEMY’

June 6, 2021:

A Pakistani court on 3 June 2021 acquitted a Christian couple who have spent seven years on death row for alleged blasphemy, their lawyer says, in a case that rights groups have long singled out for fair trial issues.
The Lahore High Court acquitted Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife Shagufta Masih after a hearing in the eastern city of Lahore, the couple’s lawyer Saif ul Malook told Al Jazeera.
“They have been acquitted on all charges […] and the capital sentence is set aside,” said Malook.
Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, the lawyer for the complainant in the case, confirmed the verdict to Al Jazeera.
“The appeal was allowed after hearing the arguments [from both sides],” said Chaudhry. “The grounds and reasons for the decision have not yet been given.”
Emmanuel and Masih were convicted and sentenced to death in April 2014 for having allegedly sent “blasphemous” text messages that were insulting to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and its holy book, the Quran, to a local Muslim leader in their native Gojra, a town located 165km (102 miles) west of provincial capital Lahore.
The couple denied the charges, with their lawyer arguing they were illiterate and unable to compose the text messages they were accused of sending, court documents say.
On 4 June, Malook said the couple were expected to be released from prison within a week, but that they would need security.
“If they are released and are in public, they will be killed,” he said.
Rights groups have echoed that concern, with UK-based Amnesty International demanding that “adequate security” be provided to the couple, their family and Malook.
“‘Blasphemy’ cases are often premised on flimsy evidence in environments that make fair trials impossible, underscoring the significance of this verdict,” said Amnesty’s South Asia Deputy Director Dinushika Dissanayake.
“This case is sadly emblematic of the harassment, intimidation and attacks that those accused of ‘blasphemy’ routinely face and highlights the urgent need to repeal the law.”
Chaudhry, the lawyer for the complainant in Emmanuel and Masih’s case, however, denied the existence of any threat to either the couple or Malook.
“This is just an atmosphere that they create so that they can get asylum and leave the country,” he said.
Chaudhry said his team was preparing an appeal, to be filed at the Supreme Court, against the verdict.