Pakistani Pastor sentenced to death over alleged blasphemy against Islam

A 58-year-old Protestant Pastor in Pakistan, Zafar Bhatti, has been sentenced to death by a district court in Rawalpindi, after he was ‘found guilty’ of blasphemy against Islam.

Bhatti, who has been in prison since he was arrested in 2012, was sentenced to death on Tuesday, after he was accused of sending blasphemous SMS text messages which “dishonoured” the Holy Prophet Mohammad and his mother.

The Pastor, according to Anglican Ink, ran a house church before his arrest, and was the founder of a charity organization called ‘Jesus World Mission’ with the mandate of assisting the poor in the country.

His arrest came after an anonymous person filed a complaint against him and though the service provider revealed that the SIM card number used to send text messages was not registered Bhatti’s name but belonged to a Muslim woman named Ghazala Khan, the Pastor was arrested and allegedly tortured in detention.

Though he repeatedly denied the charges against him, Bhatti was first sentenced to life imprisonment on May 3, 2017, under Articles 295 (a) and 295 (c) of the Penal Code of Pakistan, while the woman who owned the phone number was tried in April 2013 and granted bail.

Khan, whose national identity card details had been used to register the SIM in question, was arrested and charged with blasphemy but at her trial in April 2013, the Lahore High Court did not pass judgement against her and instead tried to convince the petitioner to forgive her and she was granted bail.

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Several reports after investigations by independent international organizations had also proved that the SIM card was not registered to Zafar but was in fact registered to Ghazala Khan.

According to Anglican Ink, a local Islamic leader back in July 2012, had forced the New Town police in Rawalpindi to lodge a complaint against an unregistered mobile number for sending messages insulting the mother of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

The Islamic leader had allegedly threatened that his organization would take matters into its own hands if investigation for blasphemy was not opened under Section 295-C of the Penal Code.

Bhatti who belongs to a minority community in Pakistan which combines around 1.27 per cent of the total Pakistan population, was reportedly tortured by the police to confess to the crime and also beaten by the Muslim prisoners in attempts to force him to convert to Islam.

His food was reportedly poisoned several times which caused severe bleeding from the nose and mouth and left him in a critical condition for days.