LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) – A Pakistani court on Monday granted bail to a convicted Christian man in 2018 when he was still a teenager for insulting Islam by posting a picture of Islam’s holiest site on social media, a defense attorney.
The court order in the eastern city of Lahore came more than four years after the arrest of Nabeel Masih. He was arrested after a mob accused him of blasphemy by sharing a picture of Kaaba in Mecca on Facebook. He was then 16 years old.
According to his lawyer, Naseeb Anjum, Masih received bail from the Lahore High Court. It was not clear exactly when Masih would be released.
Blasphemy has been a controversial issue in Pakistan. National and international human rights groups claim that allegations of blasphemy have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and to resolve personal findings.
In 2018, Masih became the youngest blasphemy convict in Pakistan when the court sentenced him to ten years in prison. Since then, the British Asian Christian Association has backed a legal battle for his release.
Anjum said he will try to quickly complete the paperwork to release Masih, who is now 20 years old. “I will continue this legal struggle for his acquittal,” he added.
Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, the lawyer for the man who filed the original indictment against Masih, confirmed that Masih received bail, but did not provide further details.
Juliet Chowdhry, administrator of the British Asian Christian Association, said in a statement that she was happy that Masih was released, but noted that “she has lost many of her most important years of development.”
Chowdhry said Masih should be compensated for his false conviction to help him restore his life and the organization would prosecute him. “We call on Christians everywhere to pray for him as we continue the battle,” he said.
A Punjab governor was assassinated 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 her family after receiving threats.