A Pakistani high court is to hear the appeal of a Christian couple who have been on death row since 2014 for insulting the Prophet Muhammad, their lawyers confirmed.

Lawyer Saiful Malook, who successfully defended Catholic Woman Asia Bibi and had her blasphemy conviction overturned in the Supreme Court, will also contest the charges against the couple in Lahore High Court.

Disabled Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife Shagufta Kausar were arrested in 2013 and sentenced to hang in Toba Tek Singh town of Punjab province in addition to a fine of 200,000 rupees (US $ 2,000) after being accused of sending text messages insulting the prophet. Sentencing went ahead despite it transpiring that a SIM card presented as evidence by police was bogus.

The case was filed by Mohammed Hussain, a prayer leader in Gojra who alleged that the couple had sent religiously offensive text messages to him and other Muslims.

The couple pleaded their innocence, maintaining they were illiterate and could not write the text messages that were written in English. They also said that the SIM card used to send the alleged messages was bought using Kausar’s stolen identity card.

Sri Lanka’s government will introduce laws to curb hate speech and false news that threaten ethnic reconciliation and national security, in the aftermath of Easter bombings that killed more than 250 people.

According to a government statement, the Cabinet decided to amend the penal code to include the penalty of five years in prison and $5,670 fine for those found guilty of distributing false news.

The ministers, at their weekly meeting on June 4, also decided to take legal action against hate speech. A penalty will be announced later, after Parliament approves amendments to the penal code.

Tensions have been running high in the Buddhist-majority Indian Ocean island nation since seven suicide bombers struck two Catholic and one Protestant church and three luxury hotels on April 21.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were carried out by a local radicalized Muslim group known as National Thowheed Jammath.

In the wake of the attacks, dozens of shops and homes belonging to minority Muslims have been burned. Muslims have been harassed in public places and subjected to hate comments.

Mob attacks on the community have killed at least one. Police have arrested several dozen suspects, whose court cases are pending.

Police in Vietnam have been accused of abducting a Catholic advocate for social and charitable activities.

Nguyen Thi Tinh said her husband Nguyen Nang Tinh was seized and pushed into a truck by police officers while he and their two sons were on their way to have breakfast on May 29.

She said police later asked her father-in-law to get the sons from the police station. Her eldest son is just 7 years old.

Nang Tinh, 43, had taken their two sons to their home in Vinh City, the capital of Nghe An province, from Ho Chi Minh City where she works.

She said police “have no heart to separate our children from their father.” The woman said they had not done anything wrong. She said law enforcement officers should have acted according to laws and their conscience.

Government-supported bloggers or online opinion sharpeners reported that Nang Tinh was arrested for joining the Viet Tan pro-democracy group based in the United States. Vietnam lists the group as reactionary and a terrorist organization.

They said police searched Nang Tinh’s house and took away his materials relating to his “crimes.”

They also threatened to arrest other activists including Fathers Anthony Dang Huu Nam and John Baptist Nguyen Dinh Thuc, whom they described as reactionaries.

Blogger Paul Tran Minh Nhat said Nang Tinh’s family has not been informed about why he was seized.

Nhat said Nang Tinh, who teaches music at a public college of culture and arts in Vinh City, is an amiable man and heavily involved in rights, justice, cultural and religious activities at parishes in Vinh Diocese. He gives material and spiritual support to victims of social injustice.

He suffers from kidney stones and had made plans to have medical treatment before his arrest. On May 29, hundreds of Catholics gathered at My Khanh Church in the province to pray for Nang Tinh to bravely bear witness to justice and truth.

Ultra-nationalist monk U Wirathu has been accused of sedition for speeches attacking Myanmar’s State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, with a local court reportedly already having issued a warrant for his arrest.

U Wirathu has also railed against religious minorities and especially Muslims, deepening the social divide in the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian nation where Rohingya Muslims have been persecuted by mobs and the military.

Ashin Ariya Wun Tha Bhiwun Sa, a Buddhist monk from Mandalay, said he should have been put behind bars years ago, calling his criticism of both Muslims and Suu Kyi “unacceptable.”

“Due to his notorious hate speech, Buddhism in Myanmar has been tarnished,” said Ashin Bhiwan Sa, who regularly joins interfaith activities in a bid to help reconcile the nation’s fragile society.

“He undermines all the good work monks have done both here and in the international community.”

A government official filed the suit against U Wirathu at the Yangon Western district court on May 28, according to police spokesman Myo Thu Soe.

This came just days after Myanmar’s religious and cultural affairs said officials were gathering evidence against the controversial monk.

The Bangladeshi government’s unprecedented two-month sea fishing ban has hit thousands of fishermen in the country’s long southern coastal zone.

Lamenting their loss of livelihood and pondering alternative means of survival, many have taken to the streets to protest against the ban in recent days. Protesters have demanded the ban be shortened and fishermen get allowances from the government while they cannot go fishing.

The government imposed a ban on fishing from May 20 to July 23 in the Bay of Bengal in line with Marine Fisheries Ordinance 1883 (amended in 2015) to ensure the smooth breeding of fish.

In April, the Department of Fisheries sent out an order to fisheries officers in 19 coastal districts to implement the ban and take action against those who violate it.

Although a praiseworthy move in terms of conservation and increasing fish stocks, the ban has faced criticism for having no apparent rehabilitation program for thousands of vulnerable fishermen.

It came into force just weeks before Muslim-majority Bangladesh is to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr festival in the first week of June.

Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar has asked Church leaders in Asia to preach peace, not vengeance.

The 71-year-old president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences urged his fellow prelates to follow leader of India’s freedom struggle Mahatma Gandhi who is revered as the apostle of non-violence.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was born on October 2, 1969, practiced non-violence to defeat British brutality and colonialism.

“Remember Gandhi who said ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,’” Cardinal Bo said while addressing delegates of the Bible and Evangelization seminar held on May 16 in Bangkok’s Camillian Pastoral Centre.

The meeting took place 25 days after bomb blasts in churches and hotels claimed 258 lives in Sri Lanka.

Cardinal Bo said Easter Sunday turned out to be Good Friday “for our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka, who sit at the graves on Holy Saturday awaiting the streaks of hope of resurrection amidst the silence of the graves.”

The cardinal also lamented that Christians have become “the most persecuted religious group in the world,” especially in China, Egypt, India, Libya, Middle East, and Sri Lanka among other places.

“Christians have become the scapegoats,” the cardinal said. “In many Middle Eastern countries, the once flourishing Christian communities have disappeared. Too many innocents lost their lives and their blood cries out.”

“I come from a country where religious extremism saw violence and tears of the thousands,” said the cardinal recalling the words of Pope Francis, who visited Myanmar and left a mandate saying, “Do not repay hatred with hatred. Be an instrument of peace.”

The Asian Church leader called on Catholics and their leaders to become people of Hope.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be gripped by fear and paralysis. These are the moments the shepherds need to walk through the way of the Cross – never losing the hope of a better tomorrow – not only for our people but those who fell victim to evil,” Cardinal Bo said.

Duterte wants to reintroduce cumpulsory Reserved Officers’ Training Corps program in all schools

Child rights groups and church leaders in the Philippines have voiced concern over a move to reintroduce compulsory military training for schoolchildren.

The Lower House of Congress last week approved a bill making the Reserved Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program mandatory for Grade 11 and 12.

The proposed law states military training “shall apply to all students … in all senior high schools, both public and private.”

It added that the aim of the training program is to “instill patriotism, love of country, moral and spiritual virtues, and respect for human rights and adherence to the Constitution.”

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, however, warned against abuses that might result from the program.

A pastor accused of evangelizing in Sarlahi, a remote province in southern Nepal, was beaten by an angry mob on March 24 as religious minorities in the country face escalating levels of persecution. Meanwhile, the organizer of a retreat held in Kathmandu Valley from April 11-13 had to change the venue at the last minute due to threats from Hindu extremists.

Another prayer service scheduled for April 13-14 at the Jesuit run St Xavier school in Patan, Nepal’s third biggest city, also changed venue after Hindu delegations reported that the school was acting as a venue for proselytizing.

Proselytizing and religious conversion are still legally prohibited in Nepal, which began admitting foreign missionaries in the early 1950s but remains heavily committed to ensuring there are no threats to Hindus. Calls to dilute or scrap the law have been surfacing for years.

Hindus represent 80 percent of the population. Buddhists make up 11%, Muslims 4%, and Christians a meagre 1-2%.

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue issued a message addressed to Muslims on the occasion of Ramadan, which began on 5 May, and for the Eid al-Fitr, which ends the Islamic holy month of fasting.

Titled ‘Christians and Mu-slims: Promoting Universal Fraternity Dear Muslim Brothers and Sisters,’ the message is signed by Secretary of the Dicastery, Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ.

The culture of dialogue between Christians and Muslims, it says, must go on and “promote every person’s right to life, to physical integrity, and to fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of conscience, of thought, of expression and of religion.”

“The month of Ramadan with its dedication to fasting, prayer and almsgiving, is also a month for strengthening the spiritual bonds we share in Muslim-Chri-stian friendship. I am pleased, therefore, to take this opportunity to wish you a peaceful and fruitful celebration of Ramadan.”

“Our religions invite us to remain rooted in the values of peace; to defend the values of mutual understanding, human fraternity and harmonious co-existence; to re-establish wisdom, justice and love” (cf. Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, Abu Dhabi, 4 February 2019).