EGN NEWS DESK
A judge sentenced a Christian to life in jail underneath Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes for a social media message that relations say was posted utilizing a cellphone stolen from him, sources stated.
Fanson Shahid, 56, had been crushed in his house in Lahore when arrested in March 2022 and tortured into confessing after he was accused of posting a derogatory comment in regards to the prophet of Islam in a touch upon a submit that one other Christian had shared, his spouse stated.
The cellphone on which the Facebook remark was made had been stolen from him in 2019, she stated.
Justice Zafar Yab Chadhar of the Additional Sessions Court Gujranwala District, Punjab Province, handed down the sentence on Jan. 24, however the household didn’t disclose it till now.
“We had been praying for Shahid’s acquittal as a result of he is harmless, however the verdict has shattered our hopes for justice,” his sister, Sonia Shahid, advised Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
Investigators discovered Fanson Shahid’s Facebook account was logged on within the new cellphone they recovered in 2022 and introduced that as proof that he had made the remark. His spouse, Safia Shahid, stated at the moment, “We consider that the misplaced cellphone was misused by somebody to submit the blasphemous remark, as a result of my husband didn’t use a passcode for its safety, and his Facebook account was additionally logged in.”
Fanson Shahid was convicted underneath Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes, which requires a compulsory loss of life sentence for derogatory feedback about Muhammad, however Chadhar cited as a “mitigating circumstance” that the remark was posted “solely as soon as.”
“If a single doubt or floor is out there creating cheap doubt within the thoughts of the courtroom/judge to award even loss of life penalty or life imprisonment, it might be ample circumstance to undertake different course by awarding life imprisonment as a substitute of loss of life sentence,” Chadhar wrote within the verdict.
He additionally handed Fanson Shahid a nice of 100,000 rupees (USD 358). Shahid was additionally convicted underneath Section 295-A, which prohibits hurting non secular sentiments, and sentenced to 3 years in jail.
He was additionally convicted underneath Section 153-A, which prohibits inflicting communal unrest, and sentenced to at least one yr in jail and a nice of fifty,000 rupees (USD 179). The judge additionally sentenced Shahid to 3 years in jail underneath Section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, which prohibits selling non secular hatred on social media.
The sentences are to run concurrently, the courtroom’s verdict acknowledged.
Sonia Shahid stated the decision shocked the household, members of the Full Gospel Assemblies church. Fanson Shahid has two youngsters, and his household has been pressured to relocate from their home on account of fears for his or her safety.
Prominent Christian lawyer Lazar Allah Rakha stated the decision confirmed the courtroom had disregarded the protection’s arguments with out giving a cause for doing so.
“Moreover, there are obtrusive contradictions within the statements of the prosecution witnesses which discredit your entire prosecution proof,” Rakha advised Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The courtroom blindly relied on the prosecution’s proof as a substitute of viewing each the prosecution and protection’s variations.”
Rakha stated Shahid was entitled to acquittal as prosecutors didn’t show their case with none shadow of doubt.
Sonia Shahid stated the household was scrambling for help to file an attraction within the Lahore High Court. The attraction have to be filed inside 30 days of the decision, and with lower than every week left to submit it, the household has but to seek out in a position authorized illustration.
Fanson Shahid labored as a purchase order officer at Pakistan Railways in Lahore and was on account of retire in eight years when he was arrested on blasphemy prices in 2022.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of probably the most tough locations to be a Christian, because it was the earlier yr.
© 2024 Christian Daily International-Morning Star News
