In a significant move, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed the country’s top Islamic body to advise on whether content that has left a Catholic on death row for 22 years was in fact blasphemous, Morning Star News reported.
Attorney Rana Abdul Hameed said the top court on March 12 sought the opinions of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and two Christian religious bodies on whether a letter by a 70-year-old former government employee, Anwar Kenneth, falls within the definition blasphemy under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s controversial of statutes. The section calls for a mandatory death sentence for insulting Islam’s prophet, Muhammad.
The three-judge bench comprising justices gave the direction after a long-awaited hearing of Kenneth’s appeal against the Lahore High Court’s 2014 decision to uphold his death sentence by the trial court, Hameed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
Kenneth, a former senior officer in the Punjab Fisheries Department, was convicted for sending a letter to Muslim religious scholars, Muslim heads of state, foreign diplomats in Pakistan, the United Nations secretary-general, and Christian theologians in 2001 in which he rejected Muhammad’s prophethood, Hameed said.
Not blasphemy, lawyer argues
The lawyer argued that the rejection of Muhammad’s prophethood by non-Muslims could not be considered blasphemy.
He added that the court had directed the Council of Islamic Ideology, the Pakistan Church Council, and the United Church Council of Islamabad to submit their opinions at the next hearing expected on April 10.
Hope remains
His family members say he’s a well-educated man with a deep interest in his Christian faith.
“My brother was a Bible scholar and often engaged in scholastic discussions with his Muslim friends and religious leaders,” said Kenneth’s 83-year-old elder sister, Reshma Bibi. “He also communicated his religious ideas and values through his letter-writing, but he was never disrespectful towards any holy personality. It was one of these letters that was used to silence him.”
She expressed her deep desire to see her brother walk free in her lifetime.
“It’s been years I haven’t been able to see my brother in prison due to my weak health,” Bibi said as tears welled in her eyes. “I miss him every day of my life, and I just hope that God will give me a chance to spend time with him before I die.”
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and published by Morning Star News.
