PAKISTAN:

Anwer Masih was acquitted in Lahore last month by a Judicial Magistrate's Court, making him the first Pakistani Christian ever acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan's lower courts.

Masih, now 32, was arrested November 30, 2003, and charged with violating Article 295 and 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, for allegedly "disturbing someone's religious feelings" and slandering a religious prophet. Muslim extremists from the banned but active Lashkar-e-Mujahideen (Islamic Religious Army) have vowed to kill Masih over his alleged remarks against the prophet Mohammed. "But we will never let you go," the letter said. "We will shoot you whenever we find you alone, since you blasphemed against our holy prophet. We have an earnest desire to kill you because you have infuriated us. We Muslims don't want to see you alive. Someone from our Lashkar-e-Mujahideen will eliminate you one day."

His wife, Bushra, had been forced to snatch up the children that afternoon and flee on the bus to her relatives living in another city. "My religion says I should forgive this man," Masih told Compass. "But after hearing these things, that he even tried to kidnap my daughters, I don't want to forgive him."

With his judicial charges cleared but his life still under threat, Masih joins more than a dozen other Pakistani Christians who, despite their innocence, have been forced to apply for asylum abroad to live under new identities. You can read about Anwer and other persecuted Christians on the Open Doors Web site.

(Source: Open Doors, www.odusa.org)

TSS

March / April 2005 The Sabbath Sentinel