Pakistan: Desperate plea for Christian man on death row  

The chair of the Catholic Church’s National Commission for Justice and Peace in Pakistan lambasted a court for sentencing a Christian man to death after being found guilty of blasphemy. This happened  in connection with one of the country’s worst-ever atrocities against minorities.  

Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, called the judgment handed down in the case of Ehsan Shan “very, very painful.” The Sahiwal Anti-Terrorism Court found Shan guilty of blasphemy by allegedly sharing content deemed insulting to Islam and its prophet on social media. 

Shan, a man from Sahiwal in his early 20s, was not accused of desecrating the Qur’an but of reposting an image of the damaged sacred text. Last August, reports of this resulted in a day of violence against Christians in Jaranwala, where more than 25 churches were torched and more than 80 Christian homes were ransacked. Under numerous articles of the Pakistan Penal Code, Shan was also sentenced to 22 years’ “rigorous imprisonment” and fined 1 million Pakistan Rupees (UK£2,830).   

In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic charity that supports persecuted Christians in need, Bishop Shukardin, chair of the Catholic Church’s National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), said, “This decision is very, very painful for us. Many people are disappointed.”  

He called on the international community to appeal for justice: “The big international NGOs and human rights organizations should come out and oppose the decision. This will make a big impact on the government.”  

Father Khalid Rashid, the NCJP director for the Faisalabad diocese, told ACN, “[Shan] shared the image with one person, but the image was shared by thousands upon thousands of people, including members of the police and the government. [Shan] is being singled out. He is being targeted. We condemn this judgment. He is innocent because he is not well-educated. He is from a very poor family. Sometimes people do not understand these things – he had no idea that  sharing this content would be considered harmful.” 

Father Rashid said that the anti-terrorism court in Sahiwal was pressured to issue a guilty verdict: “It is because of terrorists, extremists, and other fundamentalist groups that this ruling was given. These groups threatened the judge.” 

The priest also said that the court rushed the decision and that he and advocates are working closely to appeal the case at the Lahore High Court.  

Shan’s verdict comes as the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Pakistan worsens. August 2023’s mass torching of churches in the Jaranwala district sparked threats of violence against Christians in the Punjab city of Sargodha, where last May, a mob of thousands went on a rampage, again in response to a blasphemy allegation. They lynched 73-year-old grandfather Nazir Gill Masih, who later died from his injuries. By that point, terrified Christians had fled the city en masse.  

Last month, two Ahmadi Muslims were also shot and killed in the Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin district. It was claimed that those responsible were from Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP), a radical religious and political group linked to the violence in Jaranwala and Sargodha.   

“Minorities are suffering more and more,” Bishop Shukardin said. “Minorities are scared and uncomfortable. They are scared to speak up in public.” 

He said that Muslims are also accused of blasphemy, but what makes such allegations so much worse for Christians is that when claims are made against them, it is not just individuals who are targeted, but their families and their entire communities. Bishop Shukardin also stressed that in contrast to the case against Shan, there have been no convictions for those implicated in the attacks in Sargodha and Jaranwala. 

“One of our Christians is given a death sentence, which is unjust,” he continued. “And nothing has happened to those others accused of crimes against churches and Christian houses. Instead, these people are slowly being released.”  

Advocate Akmal Bhatti, chairman of the Minorities’ Alliance, has reportedly stated that only about a dozen of the 135 people booked by the authorities in connection with the Jaranwala attack are facing trial.  

—John Pontifex