ICC Note:
According to reports, an elderly Christian man from Gujranwala, Pakistan has been accused of committing blasphemy and arrested by police. According to the accusation, Mukhtar Masih wrote blasphemous letters to a local imam. False accusations of blasphemy against religious minorities in Pakistan is common and are often motivated by personal score settling, economic gain, or religious hatred. 
01/31/2017 Pakistan (Christians in Pakistan) – An elderly Pakistani Christians faces perilous situation after blasphemy accusations were leveled against him. 70-year-old, Mukhtar Masih has been embroiled in a blasphemy case where the accusers had claimed that Mukhtar had written blasphemous messages.
The respondent is resident of Lambanwali, a village in District Gujranwala. Accusations were brought against Mukhtar Masih, on Saturday 28th January 2017. Consequently, Mukhtar and his entire family were detained by the police. Those arrested included, Mukhtar’s daughter Saima, Anjum Mukhtar, his children Romilla, Nehmeeia.
In keeping with a report by British Pakistani Christian Association; at around 10 at night police arrived at Mukhtar Masih’s house and 10 police men scurried into the house and detained the entire family. The Christian family was later told that blasphemy accusations had been brought against them. An FIR number 49/17 has been registered against Mukhtar Masih. The First Information Report (FIR) invoked Sections 295-A and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
BPCA reported that the police was reluctant to release the Christian family, under 295-A Mukhtar Masih is likely to face an imprisonment of 10 years while there are assumptions that Section 295-C might be invoked in order to aggravate the punishment to death penalty.
BPCA report further stated that the Station Head Officer (SHO) Gohar Abbas revealed that local villagers had brought blasphemy accusations against Mukhtar. In this connection the an FIR was registered at the Rahwali Police Station; in which the it was maintained that the respondent had written blasphemous letters containing derogatory comments towards Prophet Muhammad and the Quran. These letters were received by a local Imam on January 26.
The complainants in this case include the Imam of the local mosque Qari Shahbaz Hussain, Sabir Ali, Pervaiz Ahmed, Muhammed Anwer and Muhammed Mansha. Police also maintains that the letters were currently in possession of police.
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