Christian man arrested on blasphemy charges in Pakistan

July 15, 2016

A Pakistani Christian man has been arrested on blasphemy charges after he was accused by a Muslim man of using WhatsApp Messenger to send a poem that denigrated Muhammad.

Following the accusation, Nadeem James, who lives in Sara-e-Alamghir in Punjab province, went into hiding. According to Pakistani media reports, Muslim clerics urged local Muslims to burn down homes in the Christian community if James did not turn himself in, and police detained and allegedly tortured his two sisters.

James—who is illiterate and does not know how to use WhatsApp, according to his brother—turned himself in, and his sisters were released.

After James turned himself in, the Express Tribune reported that he had recently married a Muslim woman who was subsequently baptized.

 

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Further information:

• Case update: Relatives released after ‘blasphemer’ is arrested (Express Tribune)
• Punjab police arrest and torture sisters of fleeing Christian accused of blasphemy (Pakistan Christian Post)
• Police in Pakistan hunt Christian accused of blasphemy for online poem (Washington Post)