ASIA/PAKISTAN - A court denies bail to some Christians arrested for blasphemy

Friday, 4 September 2015

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - The anti-terrorism Court in Gujranwala has denied bail to a group of Christians accused of blasphemy and were arrested, including Protestant Pastor Gill Aftab, who leads the "Biblical Church of God" community. The Christians were accused of insulting Islam due to some posters in which the word "rasool" (in Urdu: apostle) was used which it is an attribute of the Prophet Muhammad (see Fides 20/08/2015). The court refused to release the 13 Christians, but granted bail to the Muslim typographer who printed the posters.
As reported to Fides by the NGO CLAAS (Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement), "the judge was biased in deciding and expressed his personal feelings by saying that one cannot tolerate such words". Although one of the accused Christians lives in Sheikhupura, far from Gujrat, he vowed he had anything to do with what happened.
the CLAAS lawyers also dispute that the case should be handled by an anti-terrorism court. According to Joseph Francis of CLAAS, "the attitude of the judge was an obstacle to justice, since the term 'rasool' is found in the Bible in Urdu and Christians had no blasphemous intention". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 04/09/2015)


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