ICC Note:
A Christian teenager, Nabil Masih, was accused of blasphemy in September 2016 for allegedly liking a picture of the Kabaa, an Islamic holy site, with a pig’s head on it. On February 7, a court in Pakistan denied Masih bail stating that the prosecution had a prima facie case against the Christian teen. Masih and his supporter maintain Masish’s innocence. Unforetunately, Christians in Pakistan are often falsely accused of blasphemy due to personal score settling or religious hatred. 
02/23/2017 Pakistan (Gospel Herald) – A 16-year-old Christian in Pakistan is languishing in jail under a baseless blasphemy charge after a judge declined to grant him bail this month, his attorney said.
The judge in Punjab Province’s Kasur District on Feb. 7 denied bail to Nabeel Masih, who has been jailed since Sept. 18, 2016 after a Muslim friend accused him of “sharing” and “liking” on Facebook an allegedly blasphemous photo of the Kaaba, the holiest Islamic site in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Police are suspected of beating Nabeel until he confessed last year; he maintains his innocence.
Judge Muhammad Imran of the Pattoki lower courts claimed that “recovery of the used mobile phone and prints of relevant photographs are available on record which prima facie connect the accused with the alleged occurrence,” the boy’s defense attorney, Riaz Anjum, told Morning Star News.
“Moreover,” the judge wrote, “the statement of the witness also corroborates the prosecution story … the accused/petitioner is not entitled to concession of post-arrest bail.”
Anjum said he was surprised that the magistrate had mentioned a “witness” even though the First Information Report (FIR) makes no mention of any witnesses to the sighting of the alleged image at a village in Kasur District, 30 miles from Lahore.
“The case against Nabeel is clearly fabricated, as he is an illiterate and does not know how to use social media,” Anjum said. “The Facebook account in his name was made by his Muslim friends, and they used to post pictures on the timeline without his consent.”
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