LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) – A Pakistani court granted bail on Monday to a Christian sentenced in 2018 as a teenager for insulting Islam by posting a photo of Islam’s holiest website on social media, a defense lawyer said.
The court order in the eastern city of Lahore came more than four years after Nabeel Masih’s arrest. He was arrested after a mob accused him of committing blasphemy by sharing a photo of Kaaba in Mecca on Facebook. He was 16 at the time.
According to his lawyer, Naseeb Anjum, Masih received bail from the Lahore High Court. It was unclear exactly when Masih would be released.
Blasphemy has been a hot topic in Pakistan. National and international human rights groups say accusations of blasphemy have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal accounts.
In 2018, Masih became the youngest convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan when the court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Since then, the British Asian Christian Association has supported a legal battle for his release.
Anjum said he will try to quickly fill out the paperwork to free Masih, now 20. “I will continue this legal fight for your acquittal,” he added.
Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, the lawyer for the man who made the original charge against Masih, confirmed that Masih had received bail, but gave no further details.
Juliet Chowdhry, a curator for the British Asian Christian Association, said in a statement that she was happy that Masih would be released, but noted that he “missed many of his most important years of development”.
Chowdhry said that Masih should be compensated for his false conviction to help him restore his life and that the organization would do it for him. “We call on Christians everywhere to pray for him as we continue the battle,” she said.
A governor of Punjab was killed by his own guard in 2011 after defending a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy. She was acquitted after spending eight years on death row and left Pakistan for Canada to join the family after receiving threats.