ASIA/PAKISTAN - Bail denied to Christians and Muslims accused of lynching

Wednesday, 3 June 2015

Lahore (Fides) - An anti-terrorism court has denied bail to 18 Christians who are in prison, accused of having carried out the lynching of two Muslims, which took place in Youhanabad, a Christian area in Lahore, immediately after the suicide attack against two Christian churches. As reported to Fides, the NGO CLAAS will appeal against this decision. In recent days, the court had granted bail to 10 other Christians accused of the same crime.
In another sensitive case, the court denied bail even to a group of Muslims who are the main defendants in the case of the lynchings of the Christian couple Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi, tortured and burned alive in Kot Radha Kishan in November 2014, on the basis of a false accusation of blasphemy. This was reported to Fides by Aneeqa M. Anthony, a Christian lawyer and coordinator of the NGO "La Voce", which aims to defend Christians discriminated and abused. The NGO is closely following the case: in the past months bail had been denied to 48 other people. "If God is with us, we will be able to obtain justice for the couple's children", says Aneeqa M. Anthony to Fides. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 03/06/2015)


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