 Please pray for protection for Christians accused of blasphemy who have been granted bail by the courts in Pakistan.
Despite being released from jail they still face significant danger from extremists and often have to relocate to protect themselves and their families.
Saima Masih, a widow arrested on blasphemy charges, was granted post-arrest bail on September 10, though for security reasons it was not revealed until October, Christian Daily International-Morning Star News (CDI-MSN) has reported.
The bail was granted a month after a Muslim neighbour falsely accused her and her younger sister, Sonia Faryaad, of throwing a sack containing pages of the Koran into an open area near her home in August, said the sisters’ lawyer, Haneef Mattu.
It is understood that the two women and their families have been forced to move to an undisclosed location.
Residents of Kathore village in Punjab province, the sisters were falsely accused of blasphemy by a man who had made ‘indecent advances’ towards Saima, Mattu said.
Saima Masih, a volunteer health worker, has two children. Sonia Bibi, a mother of three and a teacher at an adult literacy centre, managed to escape from the village with her family after the allegations surfaced, Mattu said.
He had filed pre-arrest bail for Sonia Bibi that an additional sessions court rejected, he said. Mattu later filed her bail petition in the Lahore High Court but withdrew it after an initial police investigation cleared her of the alleged offence.
Mattu said that after the court granted post-arrest bail for Saima Masih, he filed a petition in the Lahore High Court to quash the charges against the two sisters.
Akmal Bhatti, chairman of the Minorities Alliance Pakistan, previously told CDI-MSN that a mob had attempted to kill Saima Masih when news of the blasphemy allegation spread in the area but timely police intervention had saved her life.
Police implicated in Christian’s case
In a separate case a Christian jailed since June on blasphemy and terrorism charges in Pakistan was released on bail on October 23 after a high court noted discrepancies in the police case against him, his lawyer said.
Chand Shamaun, a father of two young children, was arrested on June 23 and charged with insulting Islam under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and Section 9 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. He was accused of inciting religious tensions in Okara, Punjab province, by threatening to desecrate the Koran, said his lawyer, Javed Sahotra.
On October 10 a two-judge bench of the Lahore High Court granted the bail petition.
Noting discrepancies in the police’s First Information Report and investigation report, the court ordered the release of Shamaun on bail of 100,000 rupees (£280), Sahotra said.
‘Chand is with his family now, but they are not living in their home,’ Sahotra said. ‘They were forced to relocate to a safe house due to security reasons.’
The lawyer added that he had received threats because of his advocacy work for persecuted Christians.
A prominent church leader previously told CDI-MSN that he believed that Shamaun had been falsely implicated in the blasphemy case. ‘The police turned a family dispute into a religious incident when in fact no blasphemy had been committed,’ the Baptist bishop of Sahiwal Abraham Daniel previously said.
Abducted Christian girl returned to parents
A court in Pakistan returned custody of a 16-year-old Christian girl to her parents on October 25 after a Muslim had kidnapped and forcibly converted and married her, sources said.
Diya Iftikhar was abducted from her home in Jaranwala in the Faisalabad district of Punjab province on September 12, according to her parents. The judge in Jaranwala, Azhar Iqbal Ranjha, however, granted the petition for recovery of custody filed by the girl’s mother, Shahida Iftikhar.
(Source: Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)
PRAYER - Pray for safety and justice for Sonia and Saima
- Thank God for the release on bail of Chand Shamaun. Pray for justice and for safety for him and his family
- Thank God for the return of Diya. Pray that other girls in Pakistan who have been abducted and forcibly married and converted would be able to return home
- Pray that the courts and the police would uphold the rule of law in Pakistan and that God would protect those who defend the unjustly accused.
|
|
