Shagufta Kauser and her disabled husband Shafqat Emmanuel (pictured above) were sentenced to death in 2014 for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages in English.
They were thought to have sent them to a local Imam and other Muslims, according to the British Pakistani Christian Association.
Mr Emmanuel said at the time that he was tortured, forcing him to confess to the crime.
Lord Alton raised this previously with Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the government’s special envoy for freedom of religion and belief, in May and was told that the government is monitoring the case.
This week David Alton, a crossbench peer, returned to the issue asking Baroness Sugg, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, how much aid the UK was sending to Pakistan and whether that was being used to support persecuted minorities at all.
Baroness Sugg replied: “My Lords, in the past 10 years, the UK has given £2.6 billion in aid to Pakistan, targeted towards the poorest and most excluded, who are often from minorities. We promote minority rights from grass roots to the highest levels of government. UK aid to Pakistan is declining but continues to focus on the poorest.
“Since 2011, UK aid has supported primary education for 10 million children, skills training for almost 250,000 people, and microfinance loans for 6.6 million people.”
Lord Alton thanked…
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