{"id":609,"date":"2011-08-28T12:50:28","date_gmt":"2011-08-28T16:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/?p=609"},"modified":"2011-08-26T05:30:13","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T09:30:13","slug":"husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html","title":{"rendered":"Husband, wife get 25 years for allegedly touching Koran without washing their hands"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Pakistani court has convicted a Christian couple, Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi, to 25 years in prison for allegedly\u00a0touching the Koran without washing their hands —\u00a0an incident\u00a0they deny ever occurred.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Street protests against the abuse of the blasphemy laws<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, Muslim Judge Ajmal Hussein convicted the couple. The husband was locked up in Kasur\u2019s district prison. His wife was sent to the women\u2019s prison in Multan. Both have started serving 25 years behind bars.<\/p>\n

The Centre, which fights for the rights of the poor and marginalized, said that the couple was accused of \u201ccontaminating\u201d the Koran when they touched it \u201cwithout washing their hands.\u201d In fact, there is no evidence, only the testimony of alleged witnesses. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to read about Christian father and son in hiding; business\u00a0rival provokes mob with blasphemy accusations; shop set on fire<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Street protests in favor of the blasphemy laws<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The incident supposedly took place in December 2008. At the time, the accusations unleashed the fury of Muslim extremists who put pressure on police.<\/p>\n

Unconfirmed reports suggest that\u00a0the couple’s\u00a0business rivals then bribed police to discover \u201cnew evidence\u201d — additional witnesses — to justify the sentence.<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to read how United Nations\u00a0approval of the\u00a0persecution law has been quietly dropped<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The blasphemy law is the harshest tool for religious repression available in Pakistan. It was adopted in 1986 by dictator Zia ul-Haq. Sections 295-B and 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code require life in prison for anyone who defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Qur\u2018an, and imposes the death penalty on anyone who defiles the name of the Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE for more on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and its abuses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On 11 January, a court in Faisalabad sentenced Imran Masih, a 26-year-old Christian man, to life imprisonment for insulting and desecrating the Koran. He was accused of deliberately burning verses from the Koran. On 25 February, a court in Karachi sentenced Qamar David, also a Christian, to life imprisonment for “hurting the religious feelings of Muslims” when he sent blasphemous text message.<\/p>\n

Christian attorneys are filing an appeal with the High Court in Lahore to have the 25-year sentence against Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi overturned.<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to read about the assassinations of\u00a0two national Pakistani leaders\u00a0after they proposed repeal of\u00a0the blasphemy laws<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Pakistani court has convicted a Christian couple, Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi, to 25 years in prison for allegedly\u00a0touching the Koran without washing their hands —\u00a0an incident\u00a0they deny ever occurred. According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, Muslim Judge Ajmal Hussein convicted the couple. The husband was locked up in Kasur\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,55,131,130,16,30,4],"tags":[67,117,119,122,112],"class_list":["post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aasia-bibi","category-asia-bibi","category-blasphemy-law","category-inspiration","category-islam","category-muslim","category-persecution","tag-blasphemy-laws","tag-islam","tag-muslim","tag-news","tag-persecution"],"yoast_head":"\nHusband, wife get 25 years for allegedly touching Koran without washing their hands - Pray for the Persecuted Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Husband, wife get 25 years for allegedly touching Koran without washing their hands - Pray for the Persecuted Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Pakistani court has convicted a Christian couple, Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi, to 25 years in prison for allegedly\u00a0touching the Koran without washing their hands —\u00a0an incident\u00a0they deny ever occurred. According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, Muslim Judge Ajmal Hussein convicted the couple. The husband was locked up in Kasur\u2019s…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pray for the Persecuted Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-28T16:50:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-08-26T09:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/files\/2011\/05\/PAKISTAN_BLASPHEMY_LAW_TO_BE_REPEALED.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Husband, wife get 25 years for allegedly touching Koran without washing their hands - Pray for the Persecuted Church","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Husband, wife get 25 years for allegedly touching Koran without washing their hands - Pray for the Persecuted Church","og_description":"A Pakistani court has convicted a Christian couple, Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi, to 25 years in prison for allegedly\u00a0touching the Koran without washing their hands —\u00a0an incident\u00a0they deny ever occurred. According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, Muslim Judge Ajmal Hussein convicted the couple. The husband was locked up in Kasur\u2019s…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html","og_site_name":"Pray for the Persecuted Church","article_published_time":"2011-08-28T16:50:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-08-26T09:30:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/files\/2011\/05\/PAKISTAN_BLASPHEMY_LAW_TO_BE_REPEALED.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html","name":"Husband, wife get 25 years for allegedly touching Koran without washing their hands - Pray for the Persecuted Church","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/files\/2011\/05\/PAKISTAN_BLASPHEMY_LAW_TO_BE_REPEALED.jpg","datePublished":"2011-08-28T16:50:28+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-26T09:30:13+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/files\/2011\/05\/PAKISTAN_BLASPHEMY_LAW_TO_BE_REPEALED.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/files\/2011\/05\/PAKISTAN_BLASPHEMY_LAW_TO_BE_REPEALED.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/08\/husband-wife-get-25-years-for-allegedly-touching-koran-without-washing-their-hands.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Husband, wife get 25 years for allegedly touching Koran without washing their hands"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/","name":"Pray for the Persecuted Church","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Rob Kerby","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/author"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1018,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions\/1018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}