A flaw has been found in a Pakistani prosecutor’s blasphemy case against a Christian couple, who are now appealing their death sentences.
The years-long case against Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife, Shagufta Kausar, was cited by the Family Research Council as part of its campaign against blasphemy laws, which violate free speech regarding religion.
The case was prompted by a Muslim cleric claiming he received a blasphemous text message from Shagufta’s phone.
The cleric, Muhammad Hussain of Gojra, and his lawyer, Anwar Mansoor Goraya, claimed to have later received further blasphemous messages from Shagufta, written in English.
The problem, as FRC explained, is that both husband and wife are illiterate. They speak Urdu but cannot write. And they are unfamiliar with English.
“They could not have crafted such a text in their native Urdu and certainly not in English,” FRC said.
Shafqat said he confessed when police threatened to torture his wife.
“According to Shagufta, Hussain’s accusation against her and her husband is motivated by a minor quarrel between the couple’s children and their neighbors which took place six months prior to the text messages. Shagufta claims that Hussain conspired with a friend to steal her National Identity Card and use it to purchase a SIM card in her name. Using this SIM card, Hussain sent blasphemous text messages to himself,” FRC said.
FRC and other Western groups have fought blasphemy laws imposed in Islam-majority nations that typically require the death penalty.
FRC noted the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan found that at least 17 people were on death row at the beginning of the year on blasphemy convictions.
“Blasphemy laws prohibit insults to religion. Allegations of blasphemy made against religious minorities living in the Muslim world are often utilized to settle unrelated disputes. Religious minorities like Christians are particularly vulnerable to these accusations because of their marginalized place in society,” FRC said.
The defendants believe the accusation from the cleric is in retaliation for an argument between their children and their neighbors.
Nevertheless, authorities arrested them and charged them both with “insulting the Qur’an.”
The two now are in separate prisons, unable to see each other or their children, FRC said.
In its 2020 report, the U.S.Commission on International Religious Freedom found that at least 84 countries have blasphemy laws. Even more have broad laws that are used to target speech deemed blasphemous.
More than two dozen nations recently signed a statement of concern over the issue at a religious freedom conference held by the U.S. State Department.
“Blasphemy laws restrict freedom of speech and freedom of religion—both fundamental human rights. No one should be put on death row for their faith,” FRC said.