A court in Pakistan on Thursday acquitted a Christian couple who spent eight years on death row after a conviction on blasphemy charges.
A defence lawyer said, in a rare judgment welcomed by rights bodies.
Shafqat Emmanuel Masih and his wife Shughufta Kausar Masih were handed death sentences in 2014 for sending text messages to their Muslim colleagues deemed blasphemous, lawyer Saiful Malook told dpa.
The Lahore High Court in the central province of Punjab had acquitted the couple after three days of arguments on their appeal against the conviction, Malook said.
The judgment came weeks after the couple’s plight was highlighted in a resolution by the European Parliament to denounce Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws.
(dpa/NAN)
==========================About Us=========================
METROWATCH is an online daily newspaper founded in October 2013 by a seasoned reporter, Collins Edomaruse. He had risen to the position of General Editor in his 18 years stint at THISDAY newspaper, an appointment he resigned on October 30, 2013 to pursue his online newspaper publishing dream. Prior to his appointment as the newspaper’s General Editor, he had served, at various times, as Editor, Nation’s Capital; Group News Editor, Associate Editor, and Deputy Editor at different times for the newspaper’s three titles – Daily, Sunday and Saturday.
Edomaruse had covered education, sports, energy, national security, defence and transport beats among others. As a defence correspondent, Edomaruse traversed the war zones of both Liberia and Sierra-Leone in the dark days of Charles Taylor and Foday Sanko as warlords, which earned him the sobriquet “General” by his colleagues in the newsroom.
OUR MISSION
METROWATCH will act as a catalyst in our debate and desire for a crime-free Nigeria and provide the much-needed platform for all, irrespective of social, religious or political divide, to express their views.
OUR VISION
METROWATCH will strive to bring to the public domain issues of bad governance, dirty business, hostile neighborliness, security challenges and other crime issues that are always begging for attention in Nigeria.
We will pursue this course with every vigor in our drive for the TRUTH and FAIRNESS.
