Trial proceedings against Christian schoolteacher Pervaiz Masih began on
July 17 in northeast Pakistan, two years and three months after the high school
principal
was jailed for alleged blasphemy.
Now 35, Masih has been refused bail since his arrest in April 2001,when teenage
boys reportedly claimed he had made slanderous remarks against the Muslim
prophet Mohammed while tutoring them two months earlier, Compass Direct
reports.
But a report, issued two weeks after the teacher was arrested, quoted by the
same source, Masih's accusations of blasphemy were based on "professional
biases and rivalry, including religious hatred."
Masih's family has engaged a Muslim lawyer who is trying to resolve the case at
the High Court level. For security reasons, Masih is being escorted by three or
four policemen in a separate vehicle from his cell at the Sialkot District Jail
to the Daska court hearings, 40 minutes away.
In addition to Pervaiz Masih, six other Pakistani Christians are incarcerated
on allegations of violating the country's long-criticized blasphemy laws. Two
of them arrested in 2001 are still awaiting trial, while another four sentenced
to either death or life in prison are appealing their lower-court judgments.