Pakistan

An 18-year-old Christian man in Pakistan is in prison awaiting trial after a former classmate accused him of insulting Islam by saying he did not believe in Allah and questioning the right of Muslim men to have four wives, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. With notoriously harsh blasphemy laws, Islamic-majority Pakistan ranks seven on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

Alarmed at the number of people charged and incarcerated for blasphemy in Pakistan, rights advocates are demanding legislative charges to protect against blatant Islamic extremist abuse of blasphemy laws to persecute not only those of minority faiths but Muslims as well, Christian Daily reports.

A court in Faisalabad, Pakistan has acquitted the two Christian men who were falsely accused of committing blasphemy offenses that led to major riot in Jaranwala on Aug.16 last year, Morning Star News reports.

An attorney in Pakistan has expressed hope for a young Christian man on death row for “blasphemy” against Islam after a court acquitted him in a case related to the same alleged incident.

A 72-year-old Christian widower in Punjab Province, Pakistan is facing a life sentence of imprisonment after a Muslim neighbor falsely accused him of desecrating the Quran in retaliation over a property dispute, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

An Additional Sessions Court in Punjab Province, Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to life imprisonment for allegedly posting a blasphemous remark about the Islamic prophet Mohammed while using a phone that had actually been stolen from him. Fanson Shahid was convicted after being tortured into confessing to the charge, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Feb. 13 rebuked the Punjab Province government for only charging 18 of the 304 Muslims who were arrested for attacking Christians during a riot in Jaranwala last summer, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Christians in Punjab Province, Pakistan, last Monday had fire bombs thrown and gunshots fired at their homes by Muslim extremists enraged that they had voted for an opposing political party in the Feb. 8 general election, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. 

Screaming that no Christian in the area should be left alive, Islamic gunmen in Punjab Province, Pakistan, murdered a 14-year-old Christian boy during an attack in a marketplace on Feb. 5, Morning News (MSN) reports. 

A spate of extremely violent attacks on Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab Province was manifest again when a Muslim man attacked two Christian women with an ax and attempted to rape one of them last month, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Two Christian brothers in Punjab Province, Pakistan were abducted last month by Islamic extremists who brutally tortured them and ordered them to confess allegiance to Islam or be killed, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

Christians in Pakistan are cautiously celebrating a major victory for religious freedom as the Pakistani government has decided that non-Muslim children will be exempt from previously required Islamic studies in school and will be able to study the Bible instead, the International Christian Concern (ICC) aid and advocacy organization reports.

Police in Punjab Province, Pakistan, have refused to file charges against a Muslim man who attempted to rape a heavily pregnant Christian co-worker and caused her to lose her unborn child in the process, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

While Pakistan’s Islamic government claims to promote religious freedom, the facts on the ground have this month placed the country on the US List of “Countries of Particular Concern” alongside countries such as Iran and China, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

A Christian man in Punjab, Pakistan, has gone into hiding with his family after finally being released on bail pending trial for alleged blasphemy against Islam, the British Asian Christian Association (BACA) reports.

A young Christian man in Punjab, Pakistan, was murdered earlier this month by a Muslim neighbor whose historically violent behavior and claimed hatred of Christians and Jews worsened after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Hamas Palestinian terror group, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. 

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.

A Christian couple remains in jail in Pakistan’s Punjab province as a judge decided to keep them behind bars for allegedly desecrating the Koran, deemed a holy book by Muslims, sources told Worthy News.

A Christian couple in Punjab Province, Pakistan have been charged and detained under the country’s notoriously harsh blasphemy laws, just weeks after mobs of Islamic extremists attacked more than 80 Christian homes and churches in the region, the Christian Post (CP) reports.