PAKISTAN: CHRISTIAN BROTHERS ACQUITTED OF BLASPHEMY

February 12, 2025:

A court in Pakistan on January 25, 2025 acquitted Christian twin brothers of a false blasphemy accusation as the prosecution failed to prove charges against them, their attorney said.
Kasur Additional Sessions Judge Farzana Shahzad ordered that 18-year-olds Sahil Shahid (known as Kalu) and Raheel Shahid (known as Tabish), be released from prison after their defense team proved they had been falsely charged and that police had failed to properly investigate, said attorney Javed Sahotra.
During cross-examination of eight witnesses, including the investigating officer and the complainant, Sahotra asked if any of them could identify which quranic passage or verses had allegedly been desecrated by the brothers of Qulay Wala village in Kasur District, Punjab Province.
“Neither the IO nor any other witness was able to respond to my question, which shows that the evidence that they had submitted against the brothers had been fabricated,” Sahotra told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
“Admitting my arguments, the honorable judge ordered the release of the twins and issued a notice to the Kasur district police officer to start an inquiry against the IO for conducting a weak investigation.”
Sahotra said he argued that Inspector Muhammad Saleem of Kasur Saddar Police Station was not qualified to investigate the case.
“Though Saleem is serving as an inspector, he has only obtained higher secondary education and is unable to read or understand the Arabic language,” he said.
The twins have been released from prison and have reunited with their family, he added.
The Shahid brothers were arrested and charged with blasphemy on Aug. 27 after they were accused of tearing pages of the Quran. Desecrating the Quran carries a life sentence in Muslim-majority Pakistan, but intent must be proven for a conviction.
The complainant, Ghulam Mustafa, alleged in the First Information Report (FIR) that on Aug. 26 the brothers had desecrated quranic pages at a local village fair.
The brothers are illiterate and belong to a poor family, rights activist Sajid Christopher previously told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, adding that family members surrendered them to police after officials took their mother and an uncle into custody.
Expressing alarm over an increase in false blasphemy accusations in Pakistan, the U.N. Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on Nov. 7 urged repeal or amending of the country’s widely condemned blasphemy laws.
The committee noted that false blasphemy accusations led to Islamist mob violence and recommended amending the laws in accordance with requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In its concluding observations of the committee’s second periodic report on Pakistan, it stated concern over sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carry severe penalties, including the death penalty, and have a disproportionate impact on religious minorities.
“It is also concerned about the increasing number of persons incarcerated under blasphemy charges, the high number of blasphemy cases based on false accusations, violence against those accused of blasphemy, fostering vigilante justice, and allegations of entrapment of persons, in particular young persons, on accusations of on-line blasphemy under cybercrime laws,” the committee stated.