Pakistan's Supreme Court has
granted bail to three Christians accused of blasphemy.
The accused include Raja Warris, a
lay leader in the Anglican Church of Pakistan, who was arrested on 5 January
2021 and charged under Sections 295-A and 298-A of the Pakistan Penal Code over
a Facebook post on 22 Dec 2020.
Section 298-A carries a prison
sentence of up to three years for derogatory remarks about a "holy
personage". Under Section 295-A, people can be jailed for up to 10 years
in prison for "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outreach
religious feelings".
Patras Masih was 18 when he was
accused of blasphemy in 2018 after allegedly posting a photo insulting the
Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.
The accusation led to violent
protests by religious leaders and forced hundreds of Christian families to flee
the area of Shahdara Town, in Lahore.
Justice Ejaz Ul Ahsan stated that
the picture was "not blasphemous" and that it was therefore, unjustified to register a case under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code,
a section of the law that makes defiling the name of the Prophet Muhammad
punishable by death.
The judge further concluded that
the picture was not uploaded to Facebook by Masih's mobile phone but by someone
else's.
As Masih has already spent the
last four years behind bars, Judge Ul Ahsan determined that there was no need
for him to remain in prison until the case is concluded.
His legal counsel, Sittar Sahil,
said he was "grateful" to the judge for releasing Masih on bail after
examining the evidence against his client.
"It depends on how you file a
case. When you have all the evidence, the court will surely do justice,"
said Sahil.
In a separate case, Christian
sanitary worker Salamat Mansha Masih was granted bail on Monday.
Mansha Masih, 27, was arrested in
the Model Town Park, Lahore, on 13 February 2021 after he and another Christian
were overheard reading the Bible.
They were accused by local college
students of ridiculing Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) while preaching
about Christianity. They also alleged that they were given a book in Urdu that
contained blasphemous text.
Mansha Masih's legal counsel,
Abdul Hameed Khan Rana, told the court that it was a Christian book and not
blasphemous and that the First Information Report filed with the police
falsely identified his client as a preacher.
According to media reports that
during proceedings, Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that Pakistan "should avoid
further polarisation of the society which already stands fractured and divided
in the name of religion".