Pakistan: Mentally challenged Christian charged with blasphemy

“We were at home when Bilal and some other Muslims came and told us that Farhan had committed blasphemy. I pleaded with them to forgive him keeping in mind his mental state, but they did not listen to me and called the police, which arrested him.”

If the roles were reversed, which they would not be and should not be, we’d never hear the end of this. But this story contradicts the establishment media paradigm, which is that Christians are always white oppressors and Muslims are always brown victims, and so it is ignored.

“Mentally Challenged Christian in Pakistan Charged with Blasphemy,” Morning Star News, January 29, 2025:

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Police in Pakistan this week arrested a mentally challenged Christian on blasphemy charges despite being aware of his condition, sources said.

In Sahiwal, Punjab Province, Ghala Mandi police on Monday (Jan. 26) arrested Farhan Javed Masih, 28, after a local villager, Muhammad Bilal Khan, accused him of speaking against Islam and the religion’s sacred figures, said the suspect’s mother, Parveen Javed.

“We were at home when Bilal and some other Muslims came and told us that Farhan had committed blasphemy,” Javed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “I pleaded with them to forgive him keeping in mind his mental state, but they did not listen to me and called the police, which arrested him.”

Javed, widowed six years ago and mother of three children in Chak 134-9/L village, said Farhan Masih’s mental health started deteriorating after his father’s death. His younger sister, Anum, said that his mental condition was known to everyone in the village.

“Getting him arrested for blasphemy will only aggravate his mental condition,” she said. “The police should have at least gotten his mental examination done before registering the FIR [First Information Report] against him.”

A member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Parveen Javed said her son had completed a four-year nursing course and had worked at Adam Welfare Hospital in Sahiwal but being fired in 2023 due to mental illness and drug addiction.

“Farhan had become a heroin addict, which aggravated his mental health,” she said. “We have tried to get him treated, but it didn’t work. Ever since he lost his job, Farhan used to loiter around the village all day saying absurd things. The entire village knows that he is of unsound mind.”

His sister said the family was surviving on the earnings of her and her mother.

“My mother and I are already under a lot of pressure and stress due to my brothers’ illness and drug addiction problem,” she said. “Now we are on a knife’s edge thinking what will happen to Farhan given how serious the accusation is.”

Intent must be proven for conviction on blasphemy charges in Pakistan, which carry punishments ranging from fines and prison to the death penalty.

Complainant Bilal Khan stated in the FIR that he was going to water his crops when Farhan Masih arrived and started speaking absurdities.

“The holy personages of your religion are false, and I don’t want to live among Muslims, because you belong to inferior status,” Masih told him, according to Khan’s police complaint.

Police registered a case against the Christian under the blasphemy statutes, including Section 295-A, which calls for imprisonment of up to 10 years for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs; 298-A, with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison for disrespecting the wives and companions of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam; and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which includes a clause related to causing civil commotion or unrest and is punishable by a minimum five-year jail term.

Bishop Abraham Daniel of the Baptist Church in Sahiwal there were 150 to 200 Christian families in the village.

“When I got news of the incident, I immediately contacted senior police officials and sought security for the Christian residents,” Daniel told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Thankfully, timely police deployment prevented any untoward incident from taking place there, and the situation is peaceful now.”

He said that Masih’s mental illness should have protected him against arrest on blasphemy charges.

“Farhan has no control over his mind and does not comprehend the seriousness of the things that he says,” Daniel said. “He did not commit blasphemy intentionally, and the police and court must take his mental condition into account while judging the matter.”…