Muslims in Pakistan filed a blasphemy charge on 30 December against a Christian in retaliation for refusing their demand that he and others cede church land to them.
Babu Shahbaz was accused of desecrating the pages of the Qur’an and taken into custody on the same day. Although illiterate, he was accused of writing his name across 100 pages of the Qur’an, strewing them across the road and partially destroying 150 other pages. The accusers said Babu had ‘unknown accomplices’ helping him. There have been no eyewitnesses identifying anyone involved in the case.
Babu now faces a potential death sentence under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws. No one has been allowed to see him since the arrest.
