Pakistan: Christian doctor freed

A Christian doctor on trial for 'blasphemy' has been freed after his accuser backed down in court.

Dr Robin Sardar walked free from Punjab's Gujranwala Central Jail on November 4 after the man who had accused him of insulting Islam's prophet Mohammed changed his story. He said the charges were based on a 'misunderstanding'. Dr Sardar was jailed in May after becoming embroiled in a row with a street seller in Hafizabad. Accusations of blasphemy followed the doctor's decision to refuse the man permission to set up shop outside his clinic (7x7, May 13, 2008).

Yet, although Dr Sardar is legally a free man, he cannot return home because of extremists' threats: he and his family are now reunited – but in hiding. A mob chanting death threats surrounded the Sardar family home at the time of his arrest.

The same scene was played out at the home of Gulsher Masih in Tehsil Chak Jhumra near Faisalabad. His home was attacked by an angry mob accusing his daughter Sandal of ripping pages out of the Koran, allegedly on her father's instructions. Hundreds of people gathered outside their home, which was then doused in kerosene. Only the arrival of the police prevented them from setting the house alight. Gulsher and Sandal were later detained and charged with blasphemy. The rest of their family went into hiding.
(Sources: Compass Direct, The Voice of the Martyrs Canada)

Thank God that Dr Robin Sardar is free. Pray for Gulsher and Sandal in custody.

Pray that the Pakistani authorities would do more to protect Christians who are acquitted of blasphemy charges but who then live in fear of extremists' reprisals.

Pray too for Joseph Francis as he heads up the work of the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement in Pakistan. Ask God to strengthen and guide him as he deals with the daily pressures of running the organisation, which helps persecuted Christians, and the demands it places on his family.