Islamabad, Pakistan, Sep 27, 2019 / 13:30 pm
Pakistan's Supreme Court acquitted a man Wednesday who was sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2002, saying there was a lack of evidence against him.
Wajih-ul-Hassan was exonerated Sept. 25, with the court deciding that prosecutors hadn't proven that letters which were the basis of the accusation had in fact been written by him.
Pakistan's state religion is Islam, and around 97 percent of the population is Muslim. The country's blasphemy laws impose strict punishment on those who desecrate the Quran or who defame or insult Muhammad. Although the government has never executed a person under the blasphemy laws, accusations alone have inspired mob and vigilante violence.
The allegations against Hassan arose from letters he allegedly wrote to a lawyer, according to Dawn, a Karachi-based daily.