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Pakistan: Court grants breaks with “norm,” grants bail to Christian couple charged with blasphemy

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A court in Pakistan has granted bail to a Christian couple charged with blasphemy, a move which a UK rights group described as a landmark break from the “norm,” UCA News reports.

Christians Kiran Bibi and Shaukat were arrested on September 8, having been accused by local Muslim Muhammad Tamoor of “defiling the Quran” by throwing pages of it from the roof of their home, UCA reports. The couple were charged with “willful damage or defilement of the original text of the Holy Quran” under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which can result in harsh sentences, including life imprisonment.

In an unexpected turn of events, however, on October 18, Judge Mian Shahid Javed of the Additional Sessions Court judge ordered the couple to be released on bail pending trial, on the grounds there was a lack of evidence against them, UCA reports.

Commenting on the ruling in a press statement on October 19, Nasir Saeed, director of the UK-based Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), said: “This landmark judgment breaks from the norm, where trial courts often refuse bail, burdening accused individuals with lengthy legal battles that can extend all the way to the Supreme Court,” Saeed said. The court found “no credible eyewitness testimony affirming that the accused parties had deliberately committed such a grave offense,” CLAAS said.

The couple was granted bail of 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US$357), and police were ordered to carry out a “more extensive inquiry,” into the allegations against them, UCA said.

With harsh blasphemy laws in force, Islamic-majority Pakistan ranks 7th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.