On 25 November, a court in Lahore handed the death sentence to five Muslims for torturing and killing a Christian couple by burning them alive in a brick kiln over allegations of burning the Qur’an.
Eight others charged in the attack were sentenced to two years in prison.
Many involved
Hundreds of villagers, incited by Muslim leaders calling for violence via mosque loudspeakers, were involved in the 2014 assault in which 26-year-old Shahzad Masih and his five-months pregnant wife, Shama, 24, were thrown into a burning brick kiln.
Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Chaudhry Azam handed death sentences and a fine of 200,000 rupees (US$1,900) to each man for inciting violence against the Christian couple.
Attorney Riaz Anjum, who represented the father of the deceased woman, said that although more than 50 people had been originally charged in the lynching, most of them had been acquitted after family members of Shahzad Masih recorded statements denying that they were present at the scene.
Encouraging news
‘Nonetheless, it is encouraging news for the Christian community in Pakistan’, Anjum said. ‘The families of the deceased people have suffered a lot of pressure, but conviction of five people by the court is no small feat, and I hope this verdict would be seen as a stern warning against any such violence against minorities in the future.’
Masih and his wife were working as bonded labourers at the brick kiln when the throng descended on them.
The mob tore the clothes off them, struck them, broke their legs, dragged them behind a tractor and threw them into the burning furnace of a brick kiln – even though Shama was illiterate and could not have even known if Qur’anic verses were among debris that she had burned. Under Pakistan’s widely condemned blasphemy statutes, intent must be shown for a conviction of desecrating the Qur’an. The couple is survived by their four children. Anjum said the convicts would now file appeals with the High Court against their sentences, but was ‘confident that the High Court will uphold the trial court’s verdict.’
The couple could have survived if they had been allowed to leave the kiln before violence began, but they were prevented by the kiln owner who demanded that they pay back their loan, a common thing for kiln workers to have, which effectively renders them enslaved to the kiln owners.
