by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A Christian accused of blasphemy in Pakistan, who spent 5 years in prison for allegedly insulting the prophet Lut, was released and acquitted of charges June 6th.
The original charge developed out of a conversation Nazir Masih, a cleaner in a school for blind children, had had with Shahid Mehmood, a barber next door to the school with whom Masih would sometimes have friendly chats.
After recounting the biblical story of Lot to his friend one day, Mehmoud decried Masih as a blasphemer of the prophet Lut (the Islamic version of Lot found in the Quran), leading to Masih’s indictment.
Sections 298 and 295 of Pakistan’s legal code, otherwise known as the “blasphemy laws,” include highly sensitive prohibitions against any perceived misuse of religious objects, epithets, or inflammatory remarks against religious personages perceived as wounding the religious sentiments of Muslims in any way.
The case of Asia Bibi, who spent nearly 10 years in solitary confinement on a similar charge and was only released and granted asylum in Canada in January, made famous the series of laws, which are often used by Muslims in Pakistan to settle personal grudges against Christians.