The blasphemy laws include a death penalty for the defamation of the Holy Prophet and life imprisonment for the desecration of the Holy Quran.

According to sources, 51 people accused of blasphemy were murdered before their respective trials were over. However, the death sentence has never been implemented.

1990:

Tahir Iqbal, a Christian convert from Islam and resident of Lahore, was accused of abusing Prophet Mohammad at the time of Azaan and imparting anti-Islamic education to children he tutored.

Iqbal was an engineer with the Pakistan Air Force before being paralysed and used a wheelchair. He lived near a mosque in Lahore and his change in religious affiliation had annoyed many. So much, that the local cleric accused him of abusing the Holy Prophet during azaan.

The case registered against him accused him of abusing the Holy Prophet, imparting anti-Islamic education to children who came to him for tuition and defiling the Holy Quran by underlining it with a green marker.

Iqbal was denied bail due to a misinterpretation of the PPC by a sessions court judge on the basis of his conversion and “since conversion from Islam into Christianity is itself a cognizable offence involving serious implications, hence I do not consider the petitioner entitled to the concession of bail at this stage."

However, the PPC does not recognise conversion as a recognisable offence. Even though his health condition had been certified by a medical officer, it did not have any affect on the court’s decision and he died in jail after allegedly being poisoned in July 1992.

1991:

Chand Barkat, 28, a bangle stall holder in Karachi, was accused of blasphemy by another bangle vendor, Arif Hussain, because of professional jealousy.

Barkat was denied bail for 15 months even though six Muslim witnesses had said in court that they had no proof he had committed blasphemy. He was finally acquitted in 1993 but had to go into hiding due to harassment by Muslim neighbours. According to reports, the accuser formed a group that wanted to kill Barkat after his acquittal which forced him to leave Karachi and go into hiding.

** Gul Masih, a eunuch from Faisalabad, was charged for using sacrilegious language about the Prophet and his wives. The complainant was Gul’s neighbor Sajjad Hussain who had a quarrel with him over the repair of a street water tap.

However, reports suggest that the two resolved the matter on the same day and the complaint was filed a few days later based on political motives. In an interview, Hussain denies that the matter had been resolved.

Gul and his brother Bashir were arrested on charges of blasphemy but Bashir was released due to lack of evidence against him and after villagers went to the police station to protest the innocence of the Masih family. In court, out of three eye witnesses, only the complainant accused Gul of blasphemy while the other two denied that they had heard or seen him do anything blasphemous.