A Christian man from Pakistan, who was serving a life sentence for blasphemy, was finally released after more than 11 years of being behind bars.
Imran Ghafur Masih from Hajveri town in Faisalabad was sentenced to life imprisonment for false charges of blasphemy on Jan. 11, 2010. On Tuesday, the Lahore High Court acquitted him, officially clearing him of charges under the 295-A and 295-B blasphemy laws in the Pakistan Penal Code, according to Aid to the Church in Need UK (ACN UK).
Masih's family, who did not expect things would suddenly turn around, considered his release "a day of resurrection."
"God has heard our cry and we are very thankful to Him. It's a Christmas gift for us," Masih's brother Naveed told the International Christian Concern.
Masih's lawyer Khalil Tahir Sandhu praised the court's decision. He said many justices in Pakistan feared backlash from Islamist mobs if they acquit defendants being charged of blasphemy.
However, he lamented the years Masih spent in solitary confinement away from his family, especially since Masih was not able to come home for the funeral of his parents.
"It is excellent that Imran has been acquitted of all the charges against him but the question I must ask is who is responsible for his having to spend more than 11 years behind bars for a crime he never committed," he said.
On July 2009, Masih, who was still a teenager at the time, stumbled upon a book with Arabic writing while he was cleaning the bookshop run by his family. He planned to burn the trash he collected from the shop, but because he wasn't sure if the book had religious text, he didn't burn it immediately.
Instead, he went to his neighbor Hajji Liaquat Ali, a Muslim, and asked him if the book had a religious significance. Ali assured him he could throw it in the fire, so he did. However, as soon as he left, Ali removed the book from the fire and used it to accuse him of burning the Quran.
What Ali did was not without motive. Masih's family said Ali had his eye on their store space because he wanted to expand his business.
When news of Masih's "blasphemy" spread, a mob of hundreds of angry Muslim extremists marched to his home and beat him, Naveed, and their father Ghafur.
After this, they prepared to burn the three of them, but was stopped when police came and intervened.
The police arrested Masih on charges of blasphemy. They had to show copies of the registered charges to appease the bigger mob that had gathered outside the station demanding that Masih be given to them.
On January 2010, the court sentenced Masih to life imprisonment. They also fined him 100,000 rupees. Sandhu filed an appeal, but progress regarding the case was slow, particularly when the proceedings got postponed 70 times from 2010 to 2020.
Sandhu pointed out that there were differences in eyewitness testimonies of Masih's alleged crime. However, in Pakistan, "what so often happens is that they first arrest the accused and only later do they check the evidence," he said.
Because of what happened, Masih's family lost their business, which affected all of them financially. On top of this, Masih's parents died of grief over what happened to him.
"We went through a very painful time during Imran's imprisonment," Naveed said. "We have not seen any happiness during these years."
Now that Masih has been released, he and his family have gone into hiding to avoid the possibility of threat from Muslim extremists.
There has been an increase in blasphemy charges in Pakistan in recent years, alarming human rights advocates, NPR reported. This year alone, 27 blasphemy cases have been filed. According to the ICC, there are 24 Pakistan Christians who are presently serving prison sentences for blasphemy.
