{"id":1195921,"date":"2022-01-07T03:34:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T08:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1195921"},"modified":"2022-01-07T03:34:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T08:34:52","slug":"pakistan-sentences-pastor-serving-longest-ever-prison-sentence-for-blasphemy-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pakistan-sentences-pastor-serving-longest-ever-prison-sentence-for-blasphemy-to-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan Sentences Pastor Serving Longest-Ever Prison Sentence for &#039;Blasphemy&#039; to Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpakistan-sentences-pastor-serving-longest-ever-prison-sentence-for-blasphemy-to-death%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1195921&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">A Pakistani district judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishasianchristians.org\/appeals\/pakistans-longest-serving-blasphemy-victim-has-been-given-death-sentence\/\">sentenced<\/a> Zafar Bhatti, Pakistan\u2019s longest-serving blasphemy convict, to death on Monday, the British Asian Christian Association reported Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Bhatti was already serving a life-long prison sentence on January 3 when Pakistani District Court Judge Sahibzada Naqeeb Shehzad increased the Christian man\u2019s penalty for blasphemy against Islam to capital punishment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Bhatti, 56, has been incarcerated in the Adiala Central Jail of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, since July 2012 when police charged him with sending text messages deemed blasphemous against Islam, the official state religion of Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p>Bhatti\u2019s wife, Nawab, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchinchains.ie\/prisoner-profiles\/zafar-bhatti\/\">told<\/a> the&nbsp;British Pakistani Christians Association (BCPA) in May 2017 her husband had allegedly suffered \u201cnumerous attempts\u201d on his life while in prison. False&nbsp;reports circulated in September 2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2014\/09\/26\/shooting-of-pastor-in-pakistan-highlights-growing-christian-persecution\/\">alleging<\/a> Bhatti was&nbsp;shot to death inside his prison cell. The rumor spread after a different convicted blasphemer against Islam incarcerated in a prison cell neighboring Bhatti\u2019s was killed in this manner.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19377762\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/NawabBibicourtDecember.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19377762\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/NawabBibicourtDecember.jpg\" alt=\"Nawab Bibi armed with her Bible attends Rawalpindi District Court with a BACA officer. (British Asian Christian Association)\" width=\"867\" height=\"651\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Nawab Bibi armed with her Bible attends Rawalpindi District Court with a BACA officer. (British Asian Christian Association)<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pakistan has a cultural tendency for vigilante retribution against convicted or alleged blasphemers against Islam, with Muslim mobs often performing extralegal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/12\/06\/pakistan-muslim-mob-lynches-factory-manager-blasphemy\/\">lynchings<\/a> of the individuals.<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p>Blasphemy laws in Pakistan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2021\/04\/28\/pakistan-pm-urges-muslim-nation-trade-boycotts-force-west-adopt-blasphemy-laws\/\">allow<\/a> government authorities to imprison people for insulting Islam or its holy text, the Quran, and any figure deemed holy by the Pakistani state religion. Individuals convicted of insulting Islam\u2019s holiest prophet, Muhammad, may face capital punishment. The state of Pakistan has yet to enforce the death penalty for this crime, though Bhatti\u2019s case may prove to be the first such instance of this punishment if authorities carry out his January 3 death sentence. A Pakistani court in Lahore <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2020\/09\/23\/lawyer-pakistani-christian-sentenced-death-blasphemy-just-refused-convert\/\">assigned<\/a> the death sentence to another convicted anti-Islam blasphemer, Asif Pervaiz, in September 2020, though Pervaiz\u2019s status remains unclear.<\/p>\n<p>A Pakistani court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscirf.gov\/religious-prisoners-conscience\/forb-victims-database\/zafar-bhatti\">sentenced<\/a> Bhatti to life in prison on May 3, 2017, for \u201cinsulting the Prophet Muhammad\u201d in accordance with section 295-C of the Pakistani penal code, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn July 22, 2012, Bhatti, a [Christian] pastor, was arrested after being accused of sending text messages insulting the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s mother. There are reports that Bhatti was tortured into confessing,\u201d the U.S. Commission wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Bhatti has repeatedly denied the blasphemy charges leveled against him by Pakistan\u2019s courts. His lawyers continue to argue that the mobile phone alleged to have sent the blasphemous text messages was not registered in Bhatti\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeveral reports proved that the SIM was not registered to Zafar [Bhatti] but was registered to the holder of a different Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC),\u201d Church in Chains, an Irish anti-Christian persecution organization, reported on December 9, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Pakistani district judge sentenced Zafar Bhatti, Pakistan\u2019s longest-serving blasphemy convict, to death on Monday, the British Asian Christian Association reported Tuesday. Bhatti was already serving a life-long prison sentence &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1195921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1195921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1195921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1195921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1195921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}