Pakistan Christian freed after eight years in jail

Court of Appeal acquits man on death sentence for blasphemy.

Christian children in Lahore

Pakistan:  “It is a day of joy for the Christian community in Pakistan: the 35 year-old Christian Younis Masih was released yesterday, with a decision on behalf of the Court of Appeal in Lahore,” Vatican news agency Fides reports. “Masih was sentenced to death for blasphemy by a first instance court in Lahore on May 30, 2007. His case was re-opened in September 2012, by some Christian organizations such as "Legal Evangelical Association Development" (LEAD). On April 3, Masih was acquitted and was finally released yesterday. Younis Masih and his family are still in a hidden place, since, despite being proven innocent, for the extremists he is guilty of "blasphemy" and could be killed.”

“Younis Masih had been languishing in jail since September 10, 2005. He spent a good eight years of his life in prison before the Court of Appeals confirmed his innocence. Masih had suffered a heart attack on January 8, 2013. "I have four children and I have no job, no one is helping me. I live with the fear of being killed," Masih told lawyer Mustaq Gill of LEAD, who followed the case.

“Masih recalled two cases similar to his: that of Rimsha Masih, the mentally disabled girl falsely accused of blasphemy who now lives in Canada; Asia Bibi, a Christian woman and mother, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010. Asia Bibi is still on death row at a women’s prison in Multan.

Source: Vatican Insider