A decide has sentenced a Christian man to life in jail below Pakistan's blasphemy legal guidelines for a social media message that family members say was posted utilizing a telephone that was stolen from him, sources stated.
Fanson Shahid, 56, was crushed in his Lahore dwelling when he was arrested and tortured to admit in March 2022 after being accused of posting a derogatory comment concerning the Prophet of Islam in a touch upon a submit shared by one other Christian, his spouse. he stated.
The telephone the Fb remark was on was stolen from him in 2019, she stated.
Decide Zafar Yab Chadhar of Gujranwala district for the subsequent session of Punjab province handed down the sentence on January 24, however the household has not made it public till now.
“We prayed for Shahid's acquittal as a result of he’s harmless, however the verdict shattered our hopes for justice,” his sister Sonia Shahid advised Christian Every day Worldwide-Morning Star Information.
Investigators found that Fanson Shahid's Fb account was logged into a brand new telephone they obtained in 2022 and offered this as proof that he made the remark. His spouse Safia Shahid stated on the time: “We imagine the misplaced telephone was misused by somebody to submit a blasphemous remark as my husband didn’t use a passcode to safe it and his Fb account was additionally logged in.”
Fanson Shahid was convicted below Part 295-C of Pakistan's blasphemy legal guidelines, which requires the obligatory loss of life penalty for making derogatory feedback about Muhammad, however Chadhar cited as a “mitigating issue” that the remark was revealed “solely as soon as”.
“If there’s a single doubt or floor which creates affordable doubt within the thoughts of the courtroom/decide for awarding even loss of life sentence or life imprisonment, it could be enough circumstances to undertake the choice course of awarding life imprisonment as an alternative of loss of life sentence,” Chadhar wrote. within the verdict.
Fanson additionally fined Shahid 100,000 rupees ($358). Shahid was additionally convicted below Part 295-A, which prohibits hurting non secular sentiments, and sentenced to a few years in jail.
He was additionally convicted below Part 153-A, which prohibits creating disturbance in society, and sentenced to 1 12 months in jail and a tremendous of fifty,000 rupees ($179). The decide additionally despatched Shahid to jail for 3 years below Part 11 of the Prevention of Digital Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, which prohibits the promotion of non secular hatred on social media.
The sentences are to be served concurrently, the courtroom's verdict said.
Sonia Shahid stated the decision shocked the household, members of the Full Gospel Assemblies. Fanson Shahid has two kids and his household was compelled to maneuver out of their dwelling resulting from fears for his or her security.
Outstanding Christian lawyer Lazar Allah Rakha stated the decision confirmed that the courtroom didn’t think about the arguments of the protection with out giving a purpose.
“Moreover, there are obvious contradictions within the statements of prosecution witnesses which discredit all of the prosecution's proof,” Rakha advised Christian Every day Worldwide-Morning Star Information. “The courtroom blindly relied on the prosecution's proof as an alternative of trying on the model of each the prosecution and the defence.”
Rakha stated Shahid was entitled to acquittal as prosecutors had didn’t show their case past affordable doubt.
Sonia Shahid stated the household was making an attempt to get assist to file an attraction within the Lahore Excessive Courtroom. The attraction should be filed inside 30 days of the decision, and with lower than every week left to file it, the household has but to search out competent authorized illustration.
Fanson Shahid was working as a buying officer with Pakistan Railways in Lahore and was resulting from retire in eight years when he was arrested in 2022 on blasphemy costs.
As within the earlier 12 months, Pakistan was ranked seventh on the listing of probably the most tough locations for Christianity within the Open Doorways 2024 World Watch Checklist.
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