Chand Shamaun (in tan clothes) with attorneys after acquittal of false blasphemy charges on May 10, 2025 in Pakistan. (Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A judge in Pakistan on Saturday (May 10) acquitted a Christian of blasphemy and terrorism charges, noting that prosecutors had “miserably failed” to establish the case against him, his attorney said.
Chand Shamaun, father of two minor children, was arrested on June 23, 2024 and charged with insulting Islam under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and Section 9 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. He was accused of inciting religious tensions in Okara District, Punjab Province, by threatening to desecrate the Quran, said attorney Javed Sahotra. Shamaun was earlier granted bail by a two-judge bench of the Lahore High Court on Oct. 10, 2024.
Section 295-A pertains to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.” Section 9 of the ATA relates to “acts intended or likely to stir up sectarian hatred” and is punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years.
District and Session Judge Zia Ullah Khan, who also presides over the anti-terrorism court of Sahiwal Division, acquitted Shamaun of “the baseless case registered against him by the police,” Sahotra said.
“The judge admitted our argument that there are major discrepancies and contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses,” Sahotra told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Moreover, the witnesses who appeared in the court failed to establish their presence on the crime scene and having witnessed the alleged crime.”
Sahotra said that police registered a case against the Christian 13 hours after the alleged incident, a suspicious delay.
“It also failed to provide a reasonable explanation to the court regarding the inordinate delay in registering the First Information Report [FIR], which points to its mala fide intention,” he added.
The entire case against Shamaun was “frivolous and fabricated,” he said.
“In his verdict, the judge noted that the contradictory statements of the witnesses had made the prosecution’s case ‘highly doubtful,’” he said, and quoted the judge’s verdict: “It appears that either the witnesses were not present at the place of occurrence or they spun out an imaginary story with their imagination.”
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, those found guilty of insulting Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, can be sentenced to death, though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years. Accusations or mere rumors of blasphemy spark rioting and rampage by Muslim mobs that can escalate into killings. A rights watchdog chronicled a record 344 new blasphemy cases in Pakistan in 2024, highlighting increased abuse of the country’s condemned blasphemy laws.
Of the 344 new blasphemy cases, 70 percent of the accused were Muslims, 6 percent were Christians, 9 percent Hindus and 14 percent Ahmadis, according to the Annual Human Rights Observer report issued by Center for Social Justice (CSJ).
“The blatant weaponization of blasphemy laws continued to enable persecution, religious intolerance and widespread human rights violations,” the report stated.
Section 298-A of the blasphemy statutes, which relates to disrespect of holy personages, including the family, wives and companions of Muhammad, and the four caliphs and is punishable with up to 10 years in prison, was the most used section. Last year 128 people were charged under this section.
“The next most frequently abused provision was Section 295-A (hurting of religious sentiments) with 106 reported cases,” the report noted. “Section 298-C, which is specifically against the Ahmadi community, was also widely misused, with 69 accused.”
Sections 295-B (desecration of the Quran) and 295-C (disrespecting Muhammad) were also extensively used, leading to 62 individuals accused across various regions of Pakistan, the report noted.
Punjab Province recorded the highest number of blasphemy-related accusations, accounting for 62 percent of the total cases, followed by Sindh Province with 30 percent, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 5 percent, Azad Jammu and Kashmir with 2 percent and Gilgit-Baltistan with 1 percent.
Among districts, the highest number of reported blasphemy incidents occurred in Punjab Province’s Sheikhupura District with 32, Lahore with 28, Kot Addu with 13, Rawalpindi with 13, Okara with 11, Sargodha with 11 and Gujranwala with 10, as well as Sindh Province’s Tharparkar District with 35 and Larkana with 11. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Mansehra District recorded the highest number of cases with seven.
Over the course of the year, 10 people accused of blasphemy were extra-judicially killed by individuals or violent mobs, including six in Punjab Province (two each in Lahore and Rawalpindi, and one each in Sargodha and Gujrat), two in Sindh Province (one each in Karachi and Umerkot), while there was one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Swat), and Balochistan (Quetta).
At least 2,793 persons were formally or informally accused of blasphemy in Pakistan over the past 38 years, 1987 to 2024, according to the report. The report stated that at least 104 persons were killed extra-judicially following blasphemy allegations between 1994 and 2024, which included 67 Muslims (64 percent), 26 Christians (25 percent), seven Ahmadis, one Hindu and one Buddhist, while the religion of two persons was unknown.
Pakistan, whose population is more than 96 percent Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.
If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/donate/?
###
© 2025 Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. Articles/photos may be reprinted with credit to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. https://morningstarnews.org
Tweet: https://twitter.com/morningstarnewz/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorningStarNews
Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that relies solely on contributions to offer original news reports of persecuted Christians. By providing reliable news on the suffering church, Morning Star News’ mission is to empower those in the free world to help and to encourage persecuted Christians that they are not forgotten or alone. For free subscription, contact [email protected]; to make tax-deductible donations, visit https://morningstarnews.org/donate/? or send check to Morning Star News, 34281 Doheny Park Rd., # 7022, Capistrano Beach, CA 92624, USA.
-
- Chand Shamaun (in tan clothes) with attorneys after acquittal of false blasphemy charges on May 10, 2025 in Pakistan. (Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)
Speak Your Mind