ICC Note:

Another member of Pakistan’s Christian community was charged with blasphemy after he was accused of liking a Facebook post Muslims found offensive. According to reports, there is evidence that Nabeel Masih, age 16, is both illiterate and may not have even been the individuals to actually ‘like’ the post that has put his life in danger. Despite this evidence, it is unlikely the Christian boy will receive a fair trial because religious emotions run high in Pakistan when a religious minority is accused of committing blasphemy against Islam. Will Pakistan wrongly sentence another Christian to death for allegedly committing blasphemy? 

10/24/2016 Pakistan (The Express Tribune) – In September, Nabeel Masih, a sixteen-year-old Christian boy was charged under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws. His crime was ‘liking’ a post that allegedly ‘defamed and disrespected’ the Kaaba.

Over a month later the police have yet to submit an initial investigation report to the courts. This means Nabeel is currently languishing in jail. His family has been forced into hiding and, fearing for their safety, many of his Christian neighbors have fled the area.

Fair trials are uncommon in blasphemy law cases. Should Nabeel have a proper and fair day in court he’d likely be found not guilty for two reasons.

First, there is evidence suggesting it was not Nabeel but a friend on his phone who’d hit ‘like’ on the post in question. Second, Nabeel is illiterate. To be sentenced to life in prison or death row for ‘liking’ something you could not properly comprehend (i.e. read) would be a disproportionately abhorrent sentence that would draw global ire.

Like many other blasphemy cases, which originate because someone wanted to settle an old score against the accused, Nabeel’s case is heartbreakingly frustrating.

According to the advocacy group British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), the teenager isn’t even big on his faith. Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the BPCA, describes Nabeel as ‘nominally Christian’ and as someone who doesn’t go to church. Chowdhry is adamant that Nabeel did not set out to cause harm. He didn’t know, until after his arrest, that the Facebook post could be offensive to someone.

Yet, despite Nabeel’s repeated assertions of innocence, and the hard work of those bravely representing him, not enough of the country knows nor cares.

The main reason behind the national apathy and lack of information in blasphemy cases is because very few are willing to risk their livelihood to tell the story of the Nabeel Masih’s, Asia Bibi’s, Rimsha Masih’s, and Imran Masih’s of Pakistan.

Most of Pakistan’s population of 194 million is likely to turn to Urdu-language media, which tends to be more conservative with a rigid, hardliner Islamist viewpoint that appeases its like-minded viewer-and-readership.

It’s the mighty reign of Urdu media that is the biggest obstacle in generating public support for the wrongfully accused in blasphemy law cases.

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