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 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Democrat Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblyman from Queens, has been elected mayor of New York City, marking a historic moment in the city’s political history. Hundreds of his supporters filled the Brooklyn Paramount Theater on Tuesday night, erupting in celebration as results confirmed his victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi, locally known as Tino, climbed sharply Tuesday as at least 26 people were confirmed dead and hundreds of thousands displaced across the central Philippines, authorities said.
The Vatican has ordered the world’s estimated 1.4 billion Catholics to no longer refer to Mary as the “co-redeemer” of the world, reaffirming that only Jesus Christ came to save humanity by offering salvation and eternal life to all who believe in Him.
Afghanistan struggled on Tuesday with the aftermath of a powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake that officials said shook the north of the troubled country, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 640 others, while also damaging the historic Blue Mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif.
At least seven people were killed and several others injured Tuesday after a passenger train crashed into a cargo train in central India, according to senior local government officials and railway sources.
Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, widely regarded as one of the most powerful and controversial figures in modern American politics, has died at age 84, his family confirmed Tuesday.
Christians appealed for prayers Tuesday after Typhoon Kalmaegi, locally known as Tino, left at least one person dead and forced tens of thousands to flee as it swept through the central Philippines, officials and aid workers said.