Source: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, June 8, 2021
On Thursday, June 3, the Lahore High Court accepted the appeal of Christians Shafqat Emmanuel, 49 and his wife Shagufta Kausar, 52, and acquitted them of the charge of blasphemy.
Arrested in 2013, the illiterate couple was accused of sending blasphemous English language text messages to a local Islamic cleric. While the phone did belong to Shagufta, it had been missing for a month and sources suspect a spiteful neighbor might have framed the couple. Shafqat and Shagufta were sentenced to death in 2014 on the basis of Shafqat’s “confession,” which he provided when police threatened to torture his wife. This was after their torture of Shafqat had proved unsuccessful.
According to the couple’s attorney, Saif ul-Malook (who also represented Asia Bibi), the couple was acquitted on the basis of “adulterated evidence and manipulated testimonies of the prosecution witnesses.”
Malook’s main concern now is the family’s safety. A source in the government told Morning Star News (MSN) that security agencies have been directed to ensure the protection of the couple and their lawyer. Regardless, Shafqat, Shagufta, and their four children will need asylum abroad.
See also Seven Years in a Pakistan Prison—Christian Couple Freed from Death Sentence (Open Doors). A BBC story about the case says nobody in Pakistan has ever been executed under the blasphemy laws, though dozens of those accused have been killed by mobs.
In neighboring India, anti-conversion laws are tightening, and new restrictions have just begun in Gujarat (Mission Network News).