Pakistani couple acquitted of blasphemy after 7 years on death row

A Pakistani Christian couple who were acquitted of blasphemy after seven years on death row, have fled the country, according to the CNA.

Last week, following the acquittal, Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel fled to Europe, where they received asylum in a country that has not been named, to preserve the couple’s safety.

In July 2013 the illiterate Shagufta was accused of having sent blasphemous text messages to a cleric. Shafqat, who is disabled, was forced into making a false confession after he was beaten and the accusers threatened his wife. In 2014 the couple, from a poor community in Punjab, were sentenced to death by hanging.

The next seven years they spent awaiting the outcome of an appeal filed by their lawyer, Saiful Malook, who has defended Christians in the area previously.

In June, the Lahore High Court overturned the couple’s death sentence. Since their release they have received death threats.

“We are so relieved to finally be free,” Shafqat told Washington, D.C.-based religious-freedom advocacy organization ADF, as quoted by CNA. “The last eight years have been incredibly hard, but we are so happy to be reunited with our children,” he said.

“Although we will miss our country, we are happy to finally be somewhere safe. Hopefully, the blasphemy laws in Pakistan will soon be abolished, so others won’t suffer the same fate as Shagufta and I.”