A Pakistani court upheld the life sentences of two Christian men who allegedly set fire to the Quran, Islam's holy book.
Amjad Masih and Asif Masih, who are not related, were charged under Pakistan's notorious blasphemy law, which forbids desecrating the Quran and "defiling" the name of Islam's prophet, Muhammad.
The Lahore High Court's Aug. 7 decision affirmed a lower-court ruling, said Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern, a human rights and humanitarian group.
Opponents of the blasphemy law claim it is vulnerable to abuse because only the testimony of an accuser is needed to prosecute a suspect. International human rights groups assert many Islamic radicals are using this law as a weapon to persecute Christians and other religious minorities of Pakistan.
Amjad Masih, 45, and Asif Masih, 40, were arrested on vagrancy charges in February 1999 in the town of Jhang, about 160 miles northwest of Lahore. Authorities claim the two men set fire to the Quran while in police custody.
However, the men insist the police framed them for refusing to pay a bribe.
"There is no evidence that the Quran was burned," said Shahbaz Bhatti, president of the All Pakistan Minority Alliance, a coalition of minority political parties.
The men plan to appeal the ruling to Pakistan's Supreme Court.
ICC said the families of the two men are hindered in their attempt to pursue the case because of threats from fundamentalist Muslims in the area.
No one has been executed under the blasphemy law, according to human rights groups, but four accused Christians have been killed by extremists in the past decade, and others have survived attacks. In 1997, a judge was killed for acquitting Christians charged with blasphemy.
In June, a Lahore High Court judge dismissed the life sentence of an illiterate Christian man charged with writing defamatory words about Islam's prophet.
One year ago, the Supreme Court in Islamabad acquitted another Pakistani Christian for blasphemy>, Ayub Masih, but international groups warned his life still is threatened by militant Muslims.
Some families of the accused have been forced to leave their town and move to an undisclosed area, and many have left the country.
Section 295-C of Pakistan's penal code says: "Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad ... shall be punished with death and shall also be liable to a fine."
The Pakistani government says about 97 percent of its 145 million people are Muslim, although Christian leaders claim they represent an estimated 6 percent of the population.