A Pakistani court has acquitted a Christian couple who have spent seven years on death row for alleged blasphemy, their lawyer says, in a case that rights groups have long singled out for fair trial issues.
The Lahore High Court acquitted Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife Shagufta Masih after a hearing in the eastern city of Lahore on June 3, the couple’s lawyer Saif ul Malook told Al Jazeera.
“They have been acquitted on all charges […] and the capital sentence is set aside,” said Malook.
Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, the lawyer for the complainant in the case, confirmed the verdict to Al Jazeera.
“The appeal was allowed after hearing the arguments [from both sides],” said Chaudhry. “The grounds and reasons for the decision have not yet been given.”
Emmanuel and Masih were convicted and sentenced to death in April 2014 for having allegedly sent “blasphemous” text messages that were insulting to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and its holy book, the Quran, to a local Muslim leader in their native Gojra, a town located 165km (102 miles) west of provincial capital Lahore. The couple denied the charges, with their lawyer arguing they were illiterate and unable to compose the text messages they were accused of sending, court documents say.
Blasphemy is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, where certain forms of the “crime” carry a mandatory death sentence.
Violence around blasphemy allegations has become increasingly common, with mob violence or targeted attacks against those accused of the “crime” or people who defend them.