In a very sad story, MORNING STAR NEWS writes, “A 49-year-old blind Christian in Pakistan was arrested and accused of blasphemy, a capital offense.” Blasphemy in Pakistan is a capital offense which results in the death penalty.
Nadeem Masih was reportedly “threatened and extorted by Muslim co-workers at the Model Town Park in Lahore [where he was working and supporting his blind wife and a 5-year-old daughter] and when he complained to them of their harassment, one of the Muslims claimed he (Masih) had committed blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad,” his aged mother, Martha Yousaf, told Morning Star News.
She added, “Police came, arrested him and beat him up until he signed a blasphemy statement in a false accusation and that he would face the death sentence or life imprisonment if found guilty.”
One of the main problems with Pakistan’s blasphemy laws is that blasphemy accusations can be made anonymously or by one person who can accuse another of a crime and then go free. Furthermore, as Masih’s lawyer, Javed Sahotra, has rightly stated, “I have serious questions about this blasphemy complaint because police recorded it after the shopkeepers had closed their shops in the park. Police wrote in the record that this was the time when blasphemy took place, which is a lie.” Masih’s lawyers have also confirmed that Masih “had even called the police against the alleged blasphemy perpetrators’ harassment in July.”
Defenders of the rule of law, the National Commission for Justice and Peace, have decried Masih’s arrest and “the inhuman torture of a blind and poor man who cannot even support himself.” Others have criticized the blasphemy law, which often is “used to target Christians and members of other minorities for personal or financial grudges or to acquire a place of worship or a Christian’s property.” In one way or another, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are being used systematically to target Christians.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes, “Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have long been used to settle personal scores, abuse Muslims, and instill fear and self-censorship across society with near-impunity.” The politicization and misuse of blasphemy laws “are well-documented, and the problem has not been addressed in any significant way.”
As for now, the country ranks eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most persecuted Christian nations.
Praying for this family!