By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN (Worthy News) – A Christian man sentenced to death for blasphemy against Islam in the eastern Pakistani town of Jaranwala will appeal the verdict, Worthy News learned Easter Monday.
The 36-year Pervaiz, also known as Kodu Masih, was convicted on Good Friday, April 18, after he allegedly desecrated the Koran, deemed a holy book by Muslims, said Tahir Bashir, a Christian lawyer involved in the case.
“I did his case in the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in the city of Faisalabad [which sentenced him to death],” Bashir told Worthy News. “I have filed an appeal in the High Court against the verdict of ATC Faisalabad,” he added.
“This verdict is yet another chapter in the ongoing persecution faced by the followers of Jesus Christ,” in Pakistan, a mainly Muslim nation, Bashir stressed.
He also received a fine of roughly $12,500 in local currency, sources said.
The ATC acquitted the other two accused, Daud William Masih and Shahid Aftab, also known as Boby Masih, giving them “the benefit of the doubt,” Christian trial observers noted. “The Christian community is going through a difficult time,” explained lawyer Bashir, who recently survived an assassination attempt
“Yet, I find solace in the thought that just as the heavy stone was rolled away from the tomb of Jesus Christ, so too will the heavy stones of injustice and persecution be lifted from the lives of people like Pervaiz,” he stressed.
ATTACKING CHRISTIANS
The claims of blasphemy, which the convicted Christian man denies, fueled attacks on a Christian neighborhood of Jaranwala in 2023 in which numerous houses and churches were torched and thousands of people forced to flee their homes.
Pakistan ranks 8th on the annual World Watch List of 50 nations, where advocacy group Open Doors says Christians face the most persecution for their faith in Christ.
Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death in Pakistan, and several people, including Christians, have been languishing for years on death row.
While no one has been executed yet by the state, several suspects have been lynched to death by outraged mobs, often before they could face a court.
In the southern city of Karachi on Friday, a mob of hundreds of people beat an Ahmadi owner of a car workshop to death with bricks and sticks, Worthy News reported earlier. The victim, Laeeq Cheema, 46, was reportedly filming supporters of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party “when the mob started beating him and killed him,” police announced.
TLP is known as a far-right Islamist political party known for its violent protests against any changes to the blasphemy law in Pakistan or those deemed dangerous to its teachings, including even some Muslims.
Ahmadis are a minority group that has faced attacks in Pakistan on accusations of being heretical and involved in blasphemy by hardline Muslims.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A panel of federal district court judges temporarily blocked Alabama’s plan to enact its 2023 congressional map for upcoming elections.
Iran’s supreme leader again called for “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” after U.S. strikes in southern Iran, even as President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet for high-level discussions while negotiations with Tehran entered a decisive stage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that Israel will deepen its ground operations in southern Lebanon, saying the Israel Defense Forces will expand its campaign against Hezbollah amid a growing wave of drone attacks targeting Israeli troops and northern communities.
The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to sharply reduce the number of U.S. military assets available to NATO allies in the event of a major crisis in Europe, a move that would place fresh pressure on European governments to shoulder more of their own defense burden.
Armed youths stormed a hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where Ebola patients were being treated, forcing medical staff to evacuate patients amid rising tensions over strict burial rules during the outbreak, officials said Monday.
France was left in shock Monday after police detained two teenagers following the discovery of the body of an 11-year-old boy near a river in the western city of Rennes.
An Austrian couple died in Indonesia after plunging about 20 meters (65 feet) when a suspension bridge collapsed beneath them near a popular waterfall on the island of Flores, officials confirmed Monday.