Pakistani cleared after serving nine years for blasphemy

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s supreme court exonerated a man convicted of blasphemy after he served nine years of a life sentence in prison.

A two-judge panel of the court ruled Mohammad Mansha was falsely accused, citing lack of evidence, According to court records, Mansha, 58, was arrested in September 2008 after the imam of a mosque in the Bahawalnagar district in Punjab province told authorities Mansha had desecrated a copy of the Qur’an.

A Punjab judge convicted Mansha of blasphemy and sent him to life in prison in 2009. His conviction was upheld in 2014 and the supreme court took up the case the same year.

Mansha’s defence lawyer, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said his client was arrested on a complaint from a man who was suffering from hearing and speech impairments. He said evidence from such a witness had no legal value.

Mansha’s lawyer said that following the complaint, his client was presented before a village council where he was badly beaten then handed over to police. The police registered the case under the country’s harsh blasphemy law based on the complaint of the Imam Hafiz Muhammad Munir. The hearing and speech impaired Akhtar Mohammad became the star witness.

Prosecutor Abdul Waheed said there was no “scientific evidence” against Mansha and that the police investigation was “faulty,” which led to his acquittal. Waheed said Mansha, a poor villager, could not hire a lawyer.