LAHORE, Pakistan (CDN) — A court acquitted a Christian couple of “blasphemy” charges yesterday, overturning their life sentences, their lawyer said.

Chaudhry Naeem Shakir told Compass that Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court accepted the couple’s appeal because prosecutors failed to prove allegations that 32-year-old Munir Masih and his wife Ruqayya defiled the Quran or insulted Muhammad on Dec. 8, 2008.

The allegations by Muhammad Nawaz in Mustafabad, Kasur district, came under sections 295-B and 295-C respectively of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which are routinely employed to exact revenge on Christians over personal disputes; in this case, the Christian couple’s children had fought with the family of Muhammad Yousaf, who directed his driver, Nawaz, to file the blasphemy charges.

Shakir said that the First Information Report (FIR) indicated Nawaz initially accused Ruqayya Masih of using the Quran for exorcism. He accused her of touching the Quran without ablution and said that her husband was equally culpable since he remained a silent spectator. The complainant also claimed that the couple insulted Muhammad.

A trial court had exonerated them from charges of blasphemy against Muhammad in 2010 but sentenced them to life imprisonment (25 years in Pakistan) for allegedly defiling the Quran. The couple then filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court pleading not guilty.

“During the trial, not a single witness spoke against the couple regarding the allegations of blasphemy,” Shakir said. “Therefore, [Kasur Additional Session] Judge Muhammad Ajmal Hussain on March 2, 2010 acquitted the couple in 295-C but awarded them life imprisonment under Section 295-B.”

During the course of hearings, Shakir asserted that Yousaf, along with his brother Muhammad Ilyas, implicated the couple through their driver, Nawaz, who filed the FIR against the couple. Shakir told the court that the motive behind this move was a fight between the children of the Christian couple and Yousaf’s family.

When the prosecutor argued that no one could touch the Quran without ablution, Shakir said, “Justice Naqvi told the prosecutor that no one bothers to do that before reading the Quran or the Bible in libraries around the world.”

He said that the Lahore High Court had released Munir Masih on bail because the charges against him were weak.

“Witnesses had claimed that Munir was sitting outside his home when Ruqayya was allegedly defiling the Quran,” he said, adding that the Christian woman has been languishing in Sahiwal Jail and will not be freed until Monday (May 21). The couple has four daughters and two sons.

Shakir said that Mustafabad police had named eight witnesses in the FIR, of whom three were named as eyewitnesses, while the others were classified as “recovery witnesses” – those supposedly present when police recovered the Quran from the couple’s house.

“Of the five ‘recovery witnesses,’ two completely denied being at the alleged crime scene,” Shakir said. “One told the court that he had reached the place after the police had made the recovery, while the other said that he had testified under duress, making the case quite clear.”
The couple’s attorney said that Ruqayya Masih had admitted keeping the Quran in her house.

“She told me that the Quran was given to her by a Muslim neighbor named Muhammad Faisal, and she had kept it safely with her, although she did not say why,” he said, adding that police had informed the court that they had found the Quran wrapped in a piece of cloth and placed in a cupboard.

END

JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 16 (CDN) — The election of a hard-line Islamic governor in Indonesia’s Aceh Province last month appears to have opened the way for a crack-down on the minority Christian community, which saw 17 churches sealed shut in early May.

Emboldened by the April 9 election of Zaini Abdullah of the militant Aceh Party (Partai Aceh, or PA), hundreds of Islamists demonstrated in front of the office of Aceh Singkil regency on April 30, demanding area church buildings be not only sealed but demolished.

Christian leaders told Compass that, besides the usual pretext of lack of church permits – applications for which local authorities routinely deny or delay – the demands were based on a controversial agreement that Christians were reportedly forced to sign in 2001 stipulating that there be only one church and four chapels in the regency.

The number of churches in the regency had grown to 22, and the Diakonia Secretary of the Indonesian Fellowship of Churches, Jeirry Simampow, said that the demonstrators were upset with the Interfaith Harmony Forum for allowing the growth of churches in the area.

“The number of Christians has reached 12,000,” Simampow said, adding that the church growth has not been accompanied by building permits. “Some houses are forced to function as churches, and some buildings are only semi-permanent.”

He noted that there is a strong, systematic movement to close churches in Aceh Singkil based on the selective enforcement of building permit requirements, which are otherwise rarely invoked in Indonesia.

“This is the same thing that happened in Bekasi, where four churches were closed,” he said.

Of the 17 churches closed, 11 belong to the Protestant Christian Church of Pakpak Dairi, or GKPPD. The Rev. Elson Lingga, GKPPD district superintendent, told Compass that the mob clamored for the demolition of the church buildings, and that on May 2 a new acting regent had agreed to the demand.

“This position was supported by the police chief, who said that the time for dialog was past – all he wanted was a schedule of the church demolitions,” Lingga said. “It’s not that Christians do not want to apply for permits, but it is extremely difficult to secure permission even though we have put forth our maximal efforts.”

The church closures, which took place May 1-3, included three Catholic buildings, one Huria Kristen Indonesia (Indonesian Christian Church, or HKI), and two chapels.

Police accompanied by demonstrators, who were reportedly organized by the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front, undertook the sealing of the churches, reportedly padlocking the front gate and posting a sign stating, “In 3 x 24 hours, the regency government must tear down this church building.”

Aceh Singkil Police Chief Bambang Syafrianto, after listening to the demonstrators on April 30, had suggested that the Christians be given three days to tear down their church buildings, and that an enforcement team would be formed to demolish them if they failed to do so, Lingga said.

“The mob received this suggestion by clapping their hands,” he said.

When the enforcement team along with Muslim demonstrators went to the GKPPD church in Siatas the next day, however, dozens of wailing women met them; one woman fainted during the protest, Lingga said. Encountering this resistance, the team relented and ordered church elders to meet with the regent on May 2.

The enforcement team then went to Paris Lake district, where they were able to close three churches: the Biskang GKPPD church in Napagaluh, the Biskang Catholic church in Napagaluh, and the Catholic church in Sikoran.

On May 2, Lingga and the Rev. Erde Berutu, along with some members from the GKPPD Siatas, met Acting Regent H. Razali, who said the eventual destruction of the church buildings was “not open to question,” Lingga said.

The regent told them that he was not trying to destroy churches but enforce rules regarding the construction of houses of worship, he added.

The next day, May 3, more churches were sealed, including the GKPPD in Siatas, the GKPPD in Siompin, and the GKPPD in Mandumpang.

NEW DELHI, April 27 (CDN) — Hindu extremists trying to stop the burial of a convert to Christianity last week in Chhattisgarh state beat a pastor and other Christians, including children and two 60-year-old women who fell unconscious, sources told Compass.

Jaikant Pawar, 31, of Balgal village, Kanker district, died on April 20 en route to a hospital; an asthma sufferer, he had complained of chest pains. When more than 40 Christians at the family’s house were taking his body out for burial, Hindu villagers who had surrounded the house stopped them.
“About 300 extremists led by the village head, Satnatram Pawar, suddenly surrounded the house shouting anti-Christian slogans, mocked and verbally abused us,” one Christian leader told Compass. “They slapped, kicked and beat us with their fists and slippers. The extremists threatened to kill us and challenged us to bring life back to the dead body of Pawar.”

At least 10 Christians sustained injuries and received medical treatment, sources said, adding that the attack went on for more than six hours. The assailants accused the Christians of having poisoned Pawar.

“The extremists were mocking us and said that Jesus, who calmed the storm, sent rain and who also raised up the dead, must also raise up Jaikant Pawar, and they forced us to pray,” the Christian leader said. “They threatened to pull off my skin if Jesus did not make Pawar alive again.”

The villagers beat Ganga Bhai and Suki Bhai, both 60 years old, he said.

“The Christians fled and scattered and some hid in their homes,” he said. “However, the extremists chased them and forcefully dragged them out from their houses. Two Christian children who were about 10 years old were pushed and thrown like a volleyball. They fell unconscious after some time.”

The leader, who suffered internal injuries in the attack, said he was beaten nearly unconscious, with the extremists pouring water on him to revive him when he was about to pass out. He and others eventually lost consciousness but were revived when a girl poured water on them; but one Christian, Pyaru Bihari, remained unconscious for 24 hours, he said.

At about 2 a.m. that night, the Hindu extremists told the Christians to remove the body from the village or be killed, sources said. The Christians carried the body to the Bande police station about 10 kilometers (six miles) away, but police were unwilling to register a First Information Report, they said.

After pressure from area Christian leaders and the Evangelical Fellowship of India, the district collector and police investigated, source said.

The officials summoned the attackers, who then falsely accused the Christians of beating them. Police warned the villagers not to disturb the Christians again and worked out an agreement in which the body was allowed to be buried in Balgal.

On Wednesday (April 25), however, area Christians began to receive threats, according to Christian support organization Open Doors.

“Withdraw your complaint or face dire consequences, to the point of losing your lives,” they were warned, according to an Open Doors press statement.

Pawar and his wife converted to Christianity three years ago, remaining firm in their faith in spite of being ostracized by their family and community, a Christian leader told Compass.

“Pawar firmly believed in Christ, and he once said, ‘Jesus gives me peace, so I cannot leave Him,’ when his relatives and the villagers warned him to leave Christ,” said another church leader.

Since they were the only Christians in their village, the couple gathered with Christians in nearby Bande and Pakhanjur, according to Open Doors. Pawar had suffered from a sickle-cell disease as well as asthma, the organization stated, forcing him to be hospitalized earlier this month.

END

ISTANBUL, April 27 (CDN) — A judge in Upper Egypt has upheld a six-year prison sentence for a Coptic Christian wrongly convicted of “blasphemy” against Islam and inciting sectarian strife, his lawyer said.

The judge in Assuit on April 5 refused to strike down a Feb. 29 sentence delivered to Makarem Diab, 49, of the town of Abnoub in Assuit Province. The charges stem from an argument that Diab had in February with Abd Al Hameed, a fellow employee at Deer Al Gabrawy Prep School.

From the start, the charges against Diab were inflated, according to his lawyer, Ahmed Sayed Gebaly.

“I know Makarem well, because we grew up together, and I know he wouldn’t do that,” said Gebaly, a Muslim. “To be honest, he didn’t do anything wrong. If he did, I will have told him.”

Gebaly said he was surprised by how far Al Hameed took the accusations. “The whole thing was just an ordinary discussion,” he said.

Al Hameed told Diab, an administration worker, that Jesus had sex with at least 10 women who were “Mehram” or forbidden to Him under Islamic law (though Islam appeared more than six centuries after Jesus), according to Gebaly. Mehram status refers to forbidden marriage or sexual relations, such as those between immediate family members.
Diab countered Al Hameed’s claims – for which there is no historical record – by stating that Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic religion, had more than four wives – a view commonly held by Islamic scholars, though disputes arise over whether he had more than four wives over the course of his life or at one time.

For reasons that are not publicly known, Al Hameed waited for 11 days to report his allegations against Diab to a misdemeanor court. Police arrested Diab and held him for four days before he was presented to a judge. On Feb. 29, in a 10-minute court hearing with no defense attorney present, the judge sentenced Diab to six years in prison for “insulting the prophet” and “provoking students.”

Diab received an appeal hearing on March 16, but Al Hameed instigated a massive riot by a large throng of Muslim attorneys outside the courthouse, according to Gebaly. The lawyers became so enraged that they burst into the courtroom during the hearing and assaulted Diab’s attorneys. They also blocked access to the courtroom.
The judge upheld the six-year sentence but immediately scheduled an appeal hearing. Gebaly said the judge upheld the sentence out of fear.

Gebaly was outside the courthouse getting legal papers for the case when the attack happened.

“Soon after that, I was called by these [Diab’s] lawyers, and they told me that they were beaten up inside the court and in front of the judge, so I went back to sort out the problem, and I was shocked when the judge kept the six-year sentence,” he said.

Most of the lawyers defending Diab were Muslims, he added.

Gebaly went to the next hearing on April 5; once again, the judge’s ruling surprised him.

“We were expecting that he would be released with no charges, but the law was used in the wrong way, and now we are trying to appeal again, if his appeal gets accepted,” Gebaly said.

Diab remained in Assuit General Prison awaiting appeal. Gebaly said that he is being treated as well as one can be while in prison.

The action against Diab is yet another example of how members of the Muslim majority in Egypt are increasingly using religious-based laws to persecute Christians or even Muslims who don’t conform to a strict interpretation to Sunni Islam.

On April 4, a judge sentenced Gamal Abdou Massoud, 17, a Coptic Christian, to three years in prison for allegedly insulting Islam. Massoud denied the charges, but the court claimed that he posted cartoons on his Facebook account that mocked the Islamic religion and Muhammad. The court also claimed that he distributed the pictures to other students. His lawyers plan to appeal the sentence.

On March 3, a Cairo court dismissed a case against Naguib Sawaris, a Copt and telecommunications tycoon, who was accused of insulting Islam for placing a cartoon of Minnie Mouse in a veil on his Facebook site as a satirical comment on what Egypt would look like if Islamists gained political power in the country.

On Tuesday (April 24), a Cairo court upheld a conviction against actor Adel Imam for blaspheming Islam but later in the week struck down a separate conviction of the same charge. Imam, arguably the best-known actor in the Arabic-speaking world, ran afoul of a lawyer with connections to the Salafi movement for his satirical roles about extremism.

The sentence carries three months in jail and a fine or 1,000 Egyptian pounds (US$165). Imam’s lawyers plan to appeal the decision.

Separatist Islamist rebels released a Swiss Christian woman kidnapped by a private militia on April 15 amid political turmoil in Timbuktu, Mali, according to a Swiss foreign ministry statement.

Armed members of the militant Islamic group Ansar Dine handed Beatrice Stockly to Swiss diplomats on Tuesday (April 24), Reuters reported.

Before rebels captured Timbuktu on April 1, most Westerners had reportedly left due to fears of being kidnapped and passed on to Al-Qaeda cells. The terrorist group’s North African branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has been holding Westerners for millions of dollars in ransom payments from previous kidnappings in recent years.

Stockly, a Christian social worker in her 40s, had refused to leave Timbuktu, 705 kilometers (439 miles) northeast of the capital, when it fell to Tuareg rebels and Islamist extremists. She was in good health “considering the circumstances,” according to the Swiss foreign ministry statement.

The Tuareg are a nomadic Berber people and are the main indigenous inhabitants of interior Sahara in northern Africa.

Ansar Dine militants took custody of Stockly after a shootout with an unidentified private militia that had seized her and wanted to sell her to AQIM. Ansar Dine, which has imposed sharia (Islamic law) in areas under its control in the north, then handed Stockly to the Swiss government without demanding a ransom, according to Agence France-Presse. Stockly is reportedly safe in Burkina Faso.

Following an army coup on March 22 and political chaos that ensued, Tuareg separatists and Islamist rebels captured the country’s vast desert north, calling it the Republic of Azawad. The devastation amid the conflict has driven nearly 260,000 Malians living in the northern regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu to seek safety in the south and surrounding countries, according to sources.

The International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands in an online statement on Tuesday (April 24), said it may launch investigations into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Mali, including killings, abductions, rapes and conscription of children.

Among those who fled the north are hundreds of Christians, most of whom have found shelter in the capital, Bamako, in southern Mali. Local sources estimate about 300 Christians have fled to Bamako. Local churches are working together to care for them, but an area Christian told Compass by phone that the Christians had to leave their homes and properties and are “empty-handed.”

“There have been difficulties for Christians in the north,” said the source, a Malian. “All of them have left that region for the south. By the grace of God, there were no deaths. Everyone is safe. But it is difficult for those who left their homes. They have many needs. We don’t know if the situation will continue, but we are hoping for the re-establishment of peace.”

The Christian said he had not heard of any Christian being beheaded.

The source requested anonymity, pointing out that various extremist Islamic groups are active in the area and surrounding countries. He said that revealing his name would lead to harassment of churches with which he is affiliated, especially at a time when the government’s power is substantially weakened.

He asked for prayer for all displaced Malians and for peace in the north.

“We don’t want violence,” he said. “We want a spirit of well-being between all the people groups of Mali… [pray] that a government will be put in place and take things in their hands in good governance.”

On Wednesday, leaders appointed after the military junta agreed to stand down finally formed a transitional government that includes three army representatives, according to Al Jazeera. One of the new government’s greatest challenges will be to resolve the crisis in the north.

JOS, Nigeria, April 25 (CDN) — One person was killed and nine others were injured last night after suspected Islamic extremists attacked a TV viewing center in a Christian area of Jos where a crowd had gathered to watch soccer.

At about 10:15 p.m. at the viewing center, one of many such establishments popular in Nigeria for watching soccer matches, the attackers drove past the site and threw an explosive device at hundreds of Christians watching the match, eyewitnesses told Compass.

Some 10 minutes after the bombing, security agents evacuated the injured to Janvak Hospital just a few meters away. Medical personnel at the hospital were treating four of them under strict supervision of police and other security agents. Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba reportedly said one person died in the blas

Soldiers and police under the Joint Military Task Force charged with keeping peace in embattled Plateau state cordoned off the area around the establishment. Authorities have not ruled out members of the Islamic sect Boko Haram as suspects.

The bombing marks the second time in two weeks that the Christian area has been attacked. Boko Haram, which seeks to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria, was suspected of a detonating a bomb a few meters from the center during Easter celebrations that injured five Christians. Various churches in Tudun Wada, Jos, commonly use the site as a base for evangelistic campaigns aimed at social venues in the area.

Christian and Muslim communities live in close but separate quarters of the Tudun Wada area of Jos, and the attacks have heightened tensions between them. The area comprises eight churches – Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Bishara 2, Angwan Yashi, ECWA Good News Church, Assemblies of God Church, Redeemed Peoples Mission, Solid Rock Church, Deeper Life Bible Church, and Christ Way Baptist Church.

Suspected Islamic extremists bombed three TV viewing centers in Christian areas near Jos on Dec. 10, 2011. A few minutes into soccer match televised at Yangwava Television Viewing Center at Ukadum village, a bomb went off, killing 31-year-old Joshua Dabo.

During the same game, bombs exploded at two other viewing centers in predominantly Christian areas of Jos, injuring at least 10 others, including four in critical condition and two in a coma (see “Christian Areas of Jos, Nigeria Bombed, Killing One,” Dec. 15.)

Plateau state, in central Nigeria, has been especially volatile recently as it lies between the country’s predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. Nigeria’s population of more than 158.2 million is divided between Christians, who make up 51.3 percent of the population, and Muslims, who account for 45 percent. The percentages may be less, however, as those practicing indigenous religions may be as high as 10 percent of the total population, according to Operation World.

END

ISTANBUL (CDN) — After a memorial service for three Christians who were murdered in Malatya, Turkey five years ago today, an Istanbul pastor who was attacked over Easter weekend said he’s experienced hostility from Muslims nearly all his life.

Semir Serkek, 58, pastor of Grace Church in Istanbul’s Bahcelievler district, said he personally knew Turkish converts to Christianity Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske, who were brutally murdered by five young men in the southeastern city of Malatya on April 18, 2007.

“I looked at their fate with some envy, because they were young and I am old, but they left – I have gone through many things,” he said. “But they were so young, so young.”

On a day when memorial services were held for the three slain Christians in Malatya, Izmir and Elazig as well as the ones Serkek attended at both the Kozyatag Cultural Center and Gedikpasha Church in Istanbul, the pastor said the physical violence on him the evening (April 7) before Easter Sunday surprised him.

“I’ve been verbally abused for being a Christian many times, but this was the first time I was hit, so this was surprising and made me sad,” Serkek said.

Serkek was alone at Grace Church finishing preparations for the next day’s Easter celebration when at around 9 p.m. he heard frantic pounding at the door, he said. Opening it, he found four young men in their late teens who claimed they had questions and demanded to enter.

The men, whom Serkek said appeared to be about 18 years old, were agitated, and when he refused to let them in they used insulting language, he said. They threatened to kill him if he didn’t recite the Islamic testimony of faith.

“This made me uneasy, and I told them that this was a church and they should come back in the morning,” Serkek told Compass. “‘This is a Muslim neighborhood, what business does a church have here?’ they asked me, and told me again and again that if I didn’t accept the final religion I would die.”

Finally one of the men kicked Serkek in the chest. The blow threw the pastor down the entrance steps to the ground. The Muslims ran away laughing, Serkek said.

Born to a Syriac Christian background family in the southeastern city of Mardin, Serkek said that while the violence surprised him, he has known verbal abuse since childhood and especially since he started serving God and began openly sharing his faith 35 years ago.

“To be honest, I’ve experienced these things from my childhood,” Serkek said. “I know these things closely. I’m from Mardin, and I’m a Syriac Christian. We are serving actively, and we have to spread the Word to be a source of blessing. This is what we are called to do, to bless. This is how God will use us, and I believe this with all my heart.”

Two days after the attack, Turkish Director of Religious Affairs Mehmet Gormez called Serkek from Denmark, where he was traveling, to express his disappointment about the attack on him, according to local press.

“I don’t want to be ungrateful, but I also told him that these men are trained in the mosques,” Serkek said. “At least 10 times they repeated their demand that I say the kelime-i sahadet [Islamic testimony of faith]. They pressured me. They told me I will die. They had violence in them. They didn’t even know me. They used insulting language. Their goal was to provoke me.”

Serkek said he is convinced the four Muslims who attacked him did not pass by his church site by accident or impulsively. He said the attack was planned, and that if police catch them he would like to know who put them up to it.

On Sunday (April 15), 17 activists from a non-profit organization known as Dur De, which fights racism and hate-crimes, came to Grace Church in a show of support to Serkek. Earlier last week, a delegation from a Muslim non-profit called Damla Nur Dursun also visited Serkek and brought him flowers.

On Easter weekend, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul issued official statements wishing the country’s Christians a Happy Easter. Gul stated that “regardless of ethnic origins, language, faith and political views, everyone is an equal citizen in Turkey and equal owners of the Turkish state,” according to the Anatolian Agency. Erdogan wished Christians peace and well-being.

The attack on Serkek, however, came as a bitter reminder to the nation’s Christian community that Turkey has a long way to go in giving equal standing to non-Muslims.

Along with the memorial services around Turkey today, Geske’s family published an announcement in Taraf newspaper.

“While remembering with deep love and respect my husband, our father and our brothers, we pray and invite our beloved country’s people and government to a new level of tolerance,” the announcement read. “A new tolerance that brings peace and alleviates pain from this country where thousands have been killed in the name of religion, race, political opinion and differences of tradition. We invite every child and every citizen to choose life instead of death, good instead of evil and blessing instead of curse.”

Aydin, Yuksel and Geske worked for Zirve Publishing Co. distributing Christian material, as did Serkek for many years. The pastor said that he himself was nearly lynched in the northeastern town of Artvin for handing out Christian materials.

Because of Turkey’s long-term and systematic limitations on non-Muslim communities, the United States Commission on International and Religious Freedom recommended that Turkey be designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” this year. There are an estimated 4,500 Christian converts in Turkey.

The mother of a 6-month-old girl has been wrongly jailed for more than a month, as Pakistani authorities have failed to file a charge sheet within the mandatory 14-day period against the young Christian woman falsely accused of “blaspheming” the prophet of Islam, her attorney said.

Shamim Bibi, 26, of village Chak No. 170/7R Colony, in the Fort Abbas area of Bahawalpur district, was charged under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s “blasphemy” statutes after neighbors accused her of uttering remarks against Muhammad. She was arrested on Feb. 28.

Speaking ill of Muhammad in Pakistan is punishable by life imprisonment or death under Pakistan’s internationally condemned blasphemy laws.

“Shamim has been implicated in a completely baseless case,” said her husband, Bashir Masih. “I was present with her at the time of the alleged incident … nothing of the sort happened. The Muslims cooked up a false story, though it’s still not clear who provoked them into leveling this accusation.”

After visiting his wife in jail today, Bashir told Compass by phone that she was holding fast to her Christian faith and firmly believed that God would rescue her soon from the false charge.

“She is alright otherwise, but she especially misses her daughter,” Masih said. “We are not sure when Shamim will be able to come back home, although our lawyer is quite hopeful of securing her release very soon.”

One of the two witnesses named in the First Information Report (FIR), Abdul Qayyum, has already denied hearing anything from her that supports the charge.

“The police just did not listen to our pleas and went ahead and registered a case against my innocent wife,” he said. “It’s been over a month now, but the police haven’t filed a charge sheet against her. Who will compensate for the agony that my wife and family are suffering for no fault of ours?”

Shamim Bib’s lawyer, Mahboob A. Khan, told Compass that he had filed a bail application on March 17, but the court has not taken it up.

“The complainant party has changed their lawyer, and their new counsel filed his papers in court at today’s [Tuesday] hearing,” Khan said. “The bail application will now most likely be heard at the next hearing.”

On the delay in completing the charge sheet, Khan said that police were supposed to register it within 14 days of filing the FIR under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Police say that they have forwarded the charge sheet to the prosecution department, but there has been nothing from them either, he said.

“The judicial process is painfully slow, and it’s even slower in such sensitive matters,” Khan said. “I just hope the judge realizes the gaps in the case, and even if he does not muster enough courage to quash the case, he should at least set her free on bail.”

Shamim Bibi’s family had earlier told Compass that she had been accused because she had resisted pressure to convert to Islam four days before her arrest. Three relatives had become Muslims on Feb. 24 and urged her to do the same, and when she refused, neighbors on Feb. 27 accused her of making derogatory remarks – as yet unknown – about Muhammad (see www.compassdirect.org, “Pakistani Woman Charged with ‘Blasphemy’ for Refusing Islam,” March 12).

Ansar Ali Shah, a local prayer leader in Chak 170/7R Colony, claimed that Shamim Bibi’s neighbors, Hamad Ahmed Hashmi and Abdul Qayyum, told him and other Muslims that they had heard the Christian woman making derogatory remarks about Muhammad in her courtyard, according to the First Information Report (FIR No. 30/12) registered by the Khichiwala police station. But there is no indication in the FIR of what, exactly, Shamim Bibi was alleged to have said.

As word of the allegation spread, a large crowd of villagers besieged her house and demanded “severe punishment for the infidel,” claiming she had hurt their religious sentiments, sources said.

Shahbaz Masih, her brother-in-law, told Compass that Qayyum told police that he wasn’t even present in his house at the time of the alleged incident and had come to know about it from Hashmi, the other witness. Hashmi, a motorized-rickshaw driver, also was not present at his house at 3 p.m., the time of the alleged remark, Shahbaz Masih said, based on information gathered from Shamim Bibi’s neighborhood.

Bahawalnagar Superintendent of Police Investigation Irfan Ullah has acknowledged that one of the two witnesses had admitted to not being present at the alleged “crime” scene at the time of the alleged remark.

END