22-Year-Old Christian Man Sentenced To Death For Alleged Blasphemy In Bahawalpur

A sessions court in Bahawalpur has sentenced a 22-year-old Christian man to death over alleged blasphemy, four years after he was arrested by the police based on “secret information” against the convict.

Bahawalpur Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Hafeez Ur Rehman Khan convicted Noman Masih under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes, which imposes a mandatory death sentence.

The trial was concluded in January this year, but the sentence was announced after much delay, Voicepk.net reported.

Noman Masih’s father, Asghar Masih, is a sanitation worker.

According to Asghar Masih, his son was arrested in a late-night raid on June 29, 2019, hours after his cousin Sunny Waqas was arrested on the same charges.

However, the police have claimed that they arrested Noman Masih in July 2019 while he was showing blasphemous pictures to a group of people in a park at 3:30am.

The police had initiated a blasphemy case against Noman Masih and Sunny Waqas based on “secret information” provided to them.

Earlier, a 15-year-old Christian boy and his 18-year-old friend, also from the Christian community, were arrested in Lahore under the blasphemy law on a complaint filed by a police officer.

According to the complaint filed by police constable Zahid Sohail at the Race Course Police Station, 15-year-old Christian boy Simon Nadeem, and his friend 18-year-old Adil Babar allegedly insulted the Holy Prophet (PBUH). He claimed that he heard the boys “committing blasphemy” while playing when he was on his way to a mosque.

However, according to the boy’s family, the police arrested both boys after they had a quarrel with the police officer, who is a complainant in the case.

News Desk