A 16-year-old boy, Nabeel Masih, was arrested and had further allegations of cyber crime made against him in September due to someone else posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page.
He faces death, his family have been attacked by a mob and have been forced into hiding. Nabeel has also been tortured and beaten by the police and, even if he is not convicted, he faces being killed by violent extremists in a nation where he has already been marked out as worthy of death.
The police have also deleted the evidence on his phone that could have proved that he was innocent, as the material was deemed to be so offensive.
Protection for Christians?
British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) chairman Wilson Chowdhry said: ‘The Pakistani Government has taken leave of all moral sense, and any semblance or pretence of protection for its Christian and minority citizens. Pakistan already has the shame of officially being the sixth worst country in the world for abusive treatment of its Christians, only a hairsbreadth behind Syria, where ISIS is massacring and raping Christians. The precedent set by allowing this farce to continue a second more will show that, for all its protestations of promoting human rights, the Pakistani state is in bed with the worst of extremists. We call on the government of Pakistan to intervene now and set this innocent boy free.’
