The only evidence produced by the local police was a receipt from the phone company. A lawyer said the judge succumbed to Islamist pressure and handed down the death sentence.
Source/Credit: Independent Catholic News
By ICN | April 28, 2016
An appeal has been filed to the Court of Appeal in Pakistan regarding a Christian couple Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar sentence to death for blasphemy. The two were of accused of sending blasphemous text messages and sentenced to death in 2014.
A team of lawyers from the Farrukh Saif Foundation, a Pakistani organization has taken on the legal defense of the couple.
On July 20 2013, the couple, from Gojra, in Punjab, were accused of sending blasphemous text messages and were later arrested.
They didn't send the texts. They didn't even own the phone.
"The text messages were written in English but both of the accused were uneducated and incapable of writing proper Urdu let alone English", said the lawyers.
Shafqat is also confined to a wheelchair due to an accident in 2004 that resulted in him suffering a spinal injury. The local police proceeded to torture him in front of his wife. He pleaded for mercy while the police continued in their attempts to extract a confession from him. On 4 April 2014 the couple were given death "although the police failed to recover any mobile phone or SIM card allegedly registered in Shagufta's name", said the lawyers.
The only evidence produced by the local police was a receipt from the phone company. A lawyer said the judge succumbed to Islamist pressure and handed down the death sentence.
The whole trial was concluded inside the boundary walls of the prison due to fears for the couple's security. The couple have four children and activists of the Farrukh Saif Foundation are taking care of them.
Lawyers from the Farrukh Saif Foundation said the blasphemy law has been used to put hundreds of members of minority communities behind bars. "The law is grossly abused to target minorities," they said. "In most cases, people are falsely and maliciously accused, just for personal revenge."
Read original post here: Pakistan: Appeal filed for Christian couple sentenced to death for blasphemy
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