The court on Tuesday (July 8) acquitted two young men in false blasphemous ASP rooted in minor disputes, their lawyers said.
Adil Babar and Simon Nadeem were 18 and 14 when they were indicted in 2023, respectively. Sohail Rafique, Magistrates Section 30 CANTT Court, Lahore, yesterday, Babar, 20, and Nadeem, 16, exonerated Nadeem, 16, who was registered under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s strict blasphemy law.
The two Catholics were arrested on May 18, 2023 and were initially charged under Section 295-C, which is related to the indecency of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. Section 298-A is related to shaming sacred figures, including his wife, family, Muhammadian companions, and four caliphs: Islam. That means being punished by a life sentence that is sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison.
“We have challenged to include two sections in our Lahore Session Court bail application,” Anjum told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “The judge admitted that the charges are not worthy of calling Sections 295-C and 298-A and ordered the police to change the charges to Section 295-A.”
The judge at the time granted bail to Babar, and Nadeem was later released on bail on orders from the Lahore High Court, Anjum said.
Their trial under Section 295-A continued for almost two years. Section 295-a is related to intentional and malicious conduct intended to infuriate religious feelings and is punished for up to 10 years of imprisonment.
“The court ultimately acknowledged our argument that we cannot take a recognition of a violation under Section 295-A without federal or state government approval,” Anjum said, citing section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC), which restricts prosecution of certain crimes against the state.
This section requires that prosecutors fail to obtain recognition of these crimes outlined in Pakistan Criminal Code unless initiated by complaints made under the order or authority of the federal or state government or designated officers, he said.
The lawsuit against the two Christians was filed by Zahid Sohail after a minor argument, Anjum said.
“The false accusations of the two boys caused religious tensions in the Qurban Lines neighborhood, forcing their families to move to other areas due to fear of security,” he said. “Procedural reforms must be made when blasphemous ASP is involved to protect the victim.
Minor conflict
Babar and Nadir were engaged in a light-hearted joke outside the Babar house on May 18, 2023.
According to Babar Sandow Masi, Babar’s father, Sohail initially “disregarded” the two young men and claimed that they had passed them when they laughed at them.
“Sohail began to defeat Simon and when Adil tried to save him, Sohail also attacked him,” Masi told Morningstar News in 2023.
Masi, a Catholic who painted the car at a local car workshop, said that neighbors quickly gathered and Sohail repeated his accusations.
“Both boys denied Sohail’s allegations and said they didn’t say anything about the Muslim prophet,” Masi said. “When local neighbours asked Sohail to demonstrate his accusation, he failed to satisfy them and left.”
Masi said that officers from the racecourse police station attacked his house later that night and arrested his son. They also detained Nadeem and said Sohail had registered a lawsuit against the two under the blasphemy Asp.
“I was shocked to learn about the contents of the first information report (FIR) in which Sohail claimed that Simon called the puppy ‘Muhammad Ali’.
Muhammad Ali is a common name in Pakistan, a name attributed to the Islamic prophet, the last name, Muhammad’s son-in-law and the fourth caliph.
Masi said the allegations were “completely unfounded” as Sohail didn’t mention the puppy when he first raised the issue.
“No one has a dog on our streets, and there were no puppies on the streets when this incident happened,” he said. “Sohail cooked false accusations against our child after not convincing the locals about his previous allegations.”
ASP accusations or mere rumors could escalate to murder and riots by Muslim mobs. Rights observers recorded a record 344 new cases of blasphemous ASP in Pakistan in 2024, highlighting the rise in abuse of the country’s accused blasphemous ASP law.
According to the annual Human Rights Observer Report published by the Center for Social Justice, out of 344 new cases of blasphemy, 70% of the accused were Muslims, 6% Christians, 9% Hindus, and 14% Ahmadis.
“The blatant weaponization of blasphemous laws has continued to allow persecution, religious intolerance and widespread human rights violations,” the report states.
Over the past 38 years, at least 2,793 people have been accused of formally or informally blaspheming between 1987 and 2024. He said at least 104 people had been abnormally killed following the allegations of the blasphemy between 1994 and 2024.
With a Muslim population of over 96%, Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it is the hardest place to become a Christian.
