Pakistani Catholic dies in prison awaiting trial on blasphemy charges

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, said the Catholic community in Lahore was mourning the loss of a man ‘whose life was tragically cut short by a flawed legal process’.

A Catholic in Pakistan who was suffering from advanced dementia died in prison, after being held in custody for almost a year awaiting trial over a disputed accusation of blasphemy.

Amir Peter, 61, whose brother Fr Henry Paul OFM Cap is parish priest of St Francis Church in Lahore, was arrested after a Muslim shopkeeper accused him of violating Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws which carries a mandatory death sentence.

According to Katherine Sapna, executive director of the advocacy group “Christians’ True Spirit”, the accusation followed Peter’s claim that the businessman had overcharged him.

Sapna explained that Peter was due before a court just days after his death to apply for bail on medical grounds, based on his psychological condition and severe physical deterioration in prison.

“He had been suffering from advanced dementia, and his health continued to decline throughout his detention,” she said.

A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, Fr Qaiser Feroz OFM Cap, told the Fides news agency that the Catholic community in Lahore was mourning the loss of a man “whose life was tragically cut short by a flawed legal process”.

“His condition was ignored and he was denied the urgent medical care he needed,” Fr Feroz said.

As his health deteriorated Peter was transferred from Lahore’s District Camp Jail to the Punjab Institute of Mental Health where a medical board declared him mentally unfit to stand trial.

According to Fr Feroz, cases like that of Amir Peter show how Pakistan’s blasphemy laws “continue to be abused and manipulated through false accusations motivated by personal vendettas”.

Fr Feroz called on the government to “take appropriate measures to protect the lives of all those who are falsely accused and imprisoned without proper investigation or evidence”.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been criticised by human rights organisations and by legal experts who have warned that they are routinely misused to settle personal disputes, seize property and target religious minorities.

Presiding over the funeral Mass on 2 July at St Joseph’s Church in Lahore, Archbishop Khalid Rehmat of Lahore said Amir Peter had remained “steadfast in his faith until the end”.

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