Pakistan

A Christian bicycle mechanic in Lahore, Pakistan, was reportedly sentenced to death last week on baseless charges of blasphemy.

Hopes for freedom of two Christian brothers on death row under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws were dashed this month when a court in Pakistan upheld their death sentence despite lack of evidence against them, their lawyers said.

A young Christian in Pakistan has spent more than four years in jail on a false blasphemy charge as courts have delayed processes due to Islamist bias and discrimination against him, his attorney said.

According to sources, a mentally ill Christian jailed since March 2019 on a charge of blasphemy, punishable by death, has been granted bail.

According to sources, a Muslim man in Faisalabad, Pakistan abducted a 15-year-old Roman Catholic girl and forced her to marry him and convert to Islam, but police refuse to help the family.

Authorities in Pakistan beat and arrested a Christian on Tuesday (March 16) for allegedly making blasphemous comments on social media and later tortured him into confessing guilt, sources said.

A Church of Pakistan lay pastor was gunned down and a priest wounded by unknown assailants as the leaders drove home from a worship service on Sunday (Jan. 30) in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar, sources said.

The abduction and forced conversion of Christian girls in Pakistan continued with impunity as another minor was separated from her parents the first week of the year, sources said.

A judge changed a Christian’s life prison term under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws into the death sentence last week, while the Pakistan Supreme Court granted historic bail to another Christian held on similar charges, sources said.

A court in Pakistan on Wednesday (Dec. 22) handed custody of a 14-year-old girl back to her Christian parents after she testified that she wished to return to them from a shelter home, sources said.