by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A second Christian charged with blasphemy in Pakistan was released on bail pending trial last week after a court found there was no direct evidence in the three cases brought against him, Christian Daily International (CDI) reports.
The father of a four-year-old daughter, Zimran Asim was released on October 29 after the Lahore High Court granted bail on September 24 in the third blasphemy case registered against him, his attorney Aneeqa Maria said in a statement. The high court had granted him bail in the other two cases on July 29 and April 24, CDI reports.
“Asim was implicated only because he was seen once with the primary accused, Akash Masih,” Maria said. “Zimran Asim’s case is a fitting example of how innocent people are implicated in false cases by individuals as well as the police. This poor man was forced to suffer in prison, away from his family for over one year. They also lost their home and can’t even think of going back to their village.”
“I believe the blatant misuse of the laws has made the situation equally dangerous for blasphemy accused, their defense counsels as well as rights defenders,” Maria added. “The government must take this issue seriously in order to protect innocent lives and break this environment of fear.”
Asim became the second Christian charged with blasphemy to be released on bail after a high court found there major defects in the case against Chand Shamaun, who was freed on October 23. Shamaun is accused of inciting religious tensions in Okara, Punjab Province, by threatening to desecrate the Quran, CDI reports.
Ruled by an Islamic government which has approved harsh blasphemy laws, Pakistan ranks 7 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Conservative politician Keiko Fujimori was officially declared the winner of Peru’s presidential election Friday, nearly a month after the June 7 runoff, ending weeks of uncertainty in the deeply polarized South American nation of about 34 million people.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump was to address a crowd on the National Mall, the tree-lined national park in downtown Washington seen as “America’s front yard,” to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday amid political controversy and a searing heat wave.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that Russian forces had completed the capture of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, marking what Moscow described as a major milestone in the war, although Ukraine had not confirmed the claim and independent verification was not immediately possible.
Government delegations from China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iraq arrived in Tehran on Friday, where the body of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state.
Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu announced Friday that he was stepping down, triggering the resignation of his government in the strategically located nation sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania that has been a European Union candidate country since November 2025.
At least 40 people were killed and eight others injured early Friday after a speeding, overcrowded passenger bus plunged about 20 meters (70 feet) into a rocky ravine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.
Authorities say the main suspect in a Monaco bomb attack this week that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon, his partner, and their 13-year-old son is a Ukrainian woman living in Germany who disguised herself as a man.