LAHORE, Pakistan, January 23, 2019 (Morning Star News) – A judge in Pakistan has acquitted a Christian accused of blasphemy one month after two Christians were sentenced to death in an online blasphemy case, sources said.
Kasur District Additional Sessions Judge Ijaz Ahmed Bosal dropped charges against Pervaiz Masih, 38, on Jan. 15 after prosecutors failed to submit any evidence against him.
Masih’s attorney, Aneeqa Maria of The Voice Society, told Morning Star News the prosecution failed to present even one witness against him during the three-year trial in Punjab Province. The case against him was registered on Sept. 2, 2015.
Maria said this was also one of the rare cases under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws in which the accused was granted bail just 20 days after the submission of the charge-sheet against him.
“The acquittal is good news for Masih and his family, but they have suffered a lot in the last three years,” she said. “Even though Masih is free from the charges, I have serious concerns for his security. He has been declared a blasphemer by the local Muslims, and his life will always be at risk.”
Masih’s family has said area Muslims entrapped him in a false blasphemy case after he obtained a sand contract in Garra village, near Mandi Usmanwala in Kasur District. Pervaiz Masih’s brother, Jamshed Masih, told
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