Islam Hates Christians > 23 years on death row, Pakistan Supreme Court decides he never committed blasphemy

 

Pakistan: Christian acquitted of blasphemy

after 23 years on death row

Jun 29, 2025 1:00 pm By Robert Spencer11 Comments

“In his open letter, Kenneth merely stated that his Christian belief does not endorse Islam. He hasn’t used any derogatory language for prophet Muhammad that warranted a conviction under blasphemy.”

All one has to do to be accused of blasphemy in Pakistan is affirm the Christian faith, or any other faith, without directly insulting Muhammad at all.

Christian Acquitted after 23 Years on Death Row for ‘Blasphemy’

Morning Star News, June 25, 2025:

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – The Supreme Court of Pakistan today (June 25) ordered the acquittal of an elderly Christian on death row for 23 years on a blasphemy conviction, declaring that a person of unsound mind could not be held liable for such a crime, his lawyer said.

Supreme Court attorney Rana Abdul Hameed said that a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Shahzad Ahmed Khan and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan acquitted Anwar Kenneth, a 72-year-old Catholic, of the blasphemy allegations.

“It is very unfortunate that an elderly man has languished in various prisons for over two decades despite his mental health condition,” Hameed, a Muslim, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The Supreme Court’s decision to acquit him in view of his mental illness, though after a prolonged delay, will help in highlighting the plight of dozens of other blasphemy prisoners who are also suffering from mental health challenges, yet their cases have been pending for years.”

Hameed lauded the Supreme Court judges for making the right decision despite pressure from lawyers affiliated with various Islamist groups, including the Khatm-e-Nabbuwat (Finality of Prophethood) Lawyers Forum.

“These lawyers and clerics caused a ruckus in the courtroom as soon as the judges announced the acquittal order,” Hameed said. “Kenneth’s acquittal is a big setback to them, as it will have an impact on all blasphemy cases of similar nature.”…

“Though Islam is one of the three Abrahamic faiths, and Muslims believe in all prophets, including Jesus Christ, Christians and Jews don’t believe in prophet Muhammad,” Hameed stated. “In his open letter, Kenneth merely stated that his Christian belief does not endorse Islam. He hasn’t used any derogatory language for prophet Muhammad that warranted a conviction under blasphemy.”

Kenneth’s appeal against the high court’s decision had lingered for years. On March 12, 2024, the Supreme Court directed the country’s top Islamic body, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), and two Christian bodies – the Pakistan Church Council and the United Church Council of Islamabad – to advise the court on whether content that left the Catholic on death row for over two decades was in fact blasphemous.

A three-member Supreme Court bench in January 2023 noted the need for legal representation for Kenneth and requested that the Pakistan Bar Council provide a defense attorney after five state-provided lawyers recused themselves from the case.

Hameed, who has successfully defended several persons falsely charged with blasphemy, agreed to represent the Christian with the support of advocacy group Jubilee Campaign Netherlands.

Kenneth’s family members had previously told this reporter that he worked as a deputy director in the fisheries department when he was arrested. According to them, Kenneth was 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,” Kenneth’s 83-year-old elder sister, Reshma Bibi, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in March 2024. “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.”…

 

Bits and Bites from Around the World > Norway conscripts must return underwear; Death Row inmates sue for firing squad; Pres Candidates hair-raising solution

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Recycling underwear?

Norway tells conscripts to return underwear after service

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Conscripts in Norway have been ordered to return their underwear, bras and socks after the end of their military service so that the next group of recruits can use them.

The Norwegian military said Monday that it is struggling with dwindling supplies, in part due to the pandemic.

The Norwegian Defense Logistics Organization said because of “a challenging stockpile situation, this move is necessary as it provides the Armed Forces with greater garment volumes available for new soldiers starting their initial service.”

Its press spokesman Hans Meisingset said that with “proper checks and cleaning, the reuse of garments is considered an adequate and sound practice.”

Until recently, the roughly 8,000 young men and women who every year do their military service returned their outer clothing but were allowed to leave barracks with the underwear and socks they were issued.

Military service is mandatory for both men and women in Norway and lasts between 12 and 19 months.

Meisingset said the pandemic was not the only reason why the stock of garments is low for some items. It also depends on finance, contracts and other issues.

NATO-member Norway’s national defense magazine, Forsvarets Forum, reported that it was not the first time that the Armed Forces had struggled with such shortcomings, with a union spokesman saying it “has been a recurring problem” for years. In June 2020, a third of the soldiers’ clothing and equipment was missing.

“A year ago, we looked at exactly the same shortcomings in close-fitting clothing that we see now, and earlier this autumn, the largest and smallest sizes of footwear were missing,” Eirik Sjoehelle Eiksund was quoted as saying. adding that he believed it was due to errors in the system around ordering and delivery.

Death row inmates sue to be killed by firing squad

A trial is scheduled to take place to determine the constitutionality

of the current form of killing by lethal injection

This Oct. 9, 2014 photo shows the gurney in the the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma © AP / Sue Ogrocki

Two death row inmates in the US state of Oklahoma are petitioning a judge to allow a firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection, arguing it would be quicker and have less room for error than the current mode of execution.

Donald Anthony Grant, who murdered two people during a 2001 robbery, and Gilbert Ray Postelle, who murdered four people in a 2005 shooting while high on methamphetamine, have appealed to US District Judge Stephen Friot to delay their executions until a trial can determine whether lethal injection is a constitutional form of killing death row inmates.

According to AP, a trial on the matter is set to take place on February 28. However, Grant and Postelle are due to be executed weeks before on January 27 and February 17 respectively.

Both men were denied clemency last year.

Attorney Jim Stronski told the judge that while a firing squad “may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker.” Though Judge Friot said there was “a lot” for him to get his “mind around,” he suggested that a decision would be made by the end of the week.

Experts involved with the appeal have claimed that death by firing squad would be either completely or almost painless and have less room for error than lethal injection, which has led to several cases of excruciating executions.

John Marion Grant, another Oklahoma death row inmate who was executed last year, “began convulsing about two dozen times” during his execution by lethal injection and vomited on his own face before he was eventually pronounced dead around 21 minutes after the first injection.

In 2014, Amherst College Professor Austin Sarat revealed that the rate of botched lethal injections was 7% higher than other forms of execution.

Similar cases have been used to argue in favor of alternative methods of execution, such as the firing squad, which was widely used in the US before lethal injection became the default option in all 27 states that still use capital punishment. A moratorium on executions has been in effect in California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.

South Korean presidential candidate gets to the root of the problem

Presidential candidate makes free hair loss treatment his campaign pledge

One in five South Koreans suffer from balding, according to

the country’s Democratic Party

© AP / Business Wire

The South Korean ruling party’s presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is trying to win the hearts and heads of voters going into the March election by promising to include hair loss treatment in the national health insurance plan.

Helping those “suffering from hair loss” is going to be among his priorities if he becomes president, Lee announced in a Facebook post on Friday.

“I will expand the national insurance plan’s coverage of hair loss treatment drugs and actively look into including hair transplants for the treatment of serious cases of hair loss as well,” he vowed.

The Democratic Party politician insisted that his plan will allow the creation of a stable market for hair loss medication in South Korea, promoting the development of new drugs to tackle the problem and lowering the price of the existing ones.

Lee’s camp floated the idea of expanding national health insurance to cover hair loss treatment last week. The candidate even held a meeting with a group of voters who were affected by the problem.

The Democratic Party said that around 10 million of the country’s population of over 51 million have been suffering from hair loss. Those people have been forced to buy expensive drugs from abroad or resort to prostate medication as a cheaper substitute.

While many Koreans were enthusiastic about Lee’s initiative, there were some who accused him of pursuing a populist policy that is only going to put the country’s health insurance service under more financial pressure.

The 57-year-old responded to the critics in his post, arguing that “the anxiety, social phobia and severed relationships that people with hair loss suffer from are directly connected to the quality of life, and with the discriminatory attention they receive in everyday life, [hair loss] can’t be regarded as a personal matter.”

Christian Woman Released from Pakistan Blasphemy Case Travels to Canada

Welcome to Canada Asia Bibi

May the Lord protect you from Islamic insanity

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent eight years on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan, has flown to Canada to be reunited with her family. The news was welcomed on Twitter, with users posting messages of support and delight.

“It is a big day,” Bibi’s lawyer Saiful Malook said. “Justice has been dispensed.”

 . @MarleneSchiappa, France’s equality minister,confirms that #AsiaBibi is now safe and free in her movement.Great news for Asia,her family and all humanists.This is a strong message to all fanatics for whom it’s easier to kill than to accept a different opinion.Bravo et merci 🙏🏻

@HillelNeuer

Bravo to millions worldwide who were neither silent nor indifferent. 

There were so many Christians who prayed, and people of all beliefs who spoke out, for one innocent woman imprisoned in Pakistan.

I especially salute @FreeAsiaBiBi, who posted 84,000 tweets to save #AsiaBibi.

Her reunion with her four daughters in Ottawa concludes a nine-year saga for the Roman Catholic farm laborer, from Ittanwala near Lahore, who was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed by a group of Muslim women following a row over a cup of water in June 2009.

Geert Wilders

 Fantastic news! Brave christian hero #AsiaBibi free now after leaving barbaric #Pakistan.

Mehreen Zahra-Malik

“A great relief this shameful ordeal has finally come to an end & #AsiaBibi and her family are safe,” said Omar Waraich at @Amnesty International. “She should never have been imprisoned let alone endured constant threats to her life.”

A local mosque broadcast the allegations levelled against her and she was subsequently dragged from her home and beaten by a mob before being taken into custody. She was sentenced to death in 2010.

Mahwash Ajaz

Stay safe #AsiaBibi. May we make #Pakistan a better place for those who are vulnerable, who are weak & those who deserve protection from oppressive forces anywhere.

Andrew Stroehlein

It is Pakistan’s eternal shame that the country could not provide the tolerant & safe society that #AsiaBibi and her family (and all people) deserve.

Throughout her time in prison, Bibi received support both internationally and from within Pakistan’s own government, with fatal consequences. The governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in 2011 after he appealed to the Pakistani president to pardon her. The bodyguard was executed over the crime in 2016.

In addition, Shahbaz Bhatti, who was the federal minister for minority affairs at the time, was shot dead by self-proclaimed Taliban gunmen in March 2011 after he called for the reform of blasphemy laws and declared his support for Bibi.

Islamic madness reigns supreme in Pakistan.

Bibi was finally released from prison in 2018 following her acquittal by the Supreme Court which quashed the blasphemy sentence citing unreliable evidence and an alleged confession issued before a crowd that was “threatening to kill her.”

Her acquittal sparked an outbreak of violence and angry demonstrations on the streets of Islamabad and Karachi as armed mobs pelted police and traffic with stones.

The hardline conservative Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) protested for three days and forced the government to reconsider the acquittal. Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the verdict in January.

Meanwhile, Bibi was kept in a secret location while arrangements were made for her safe departure from the country where she was held prisoner on death row for eight years.

At least 65 people have reportedly been killed for blasphemy in Pakistan since 1990.