Pakistan acquits Christian couple facing death for blasphemy

A Pakistani defense lawyer says an appeals court has acquitted a Christian couple sentenced to death seven years ago after being found guilty of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad

ISLAMABAD -- A Pakistani appeals court on Thursday acquitted a Christian couple sentenced to death on blasphemy charges for allegedly insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad, their defense lawyer said. The appeal of their 2014 death penalty by Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel from the country’s eastern Punjab province had not been heard until now for unexplained reasons, said the lawyer, Saiful Malook. The two were arrested in 2013 and tried on suspicion of sending a blasphemous text message to a local cleric in Punjab. Then on Thursday, the Lahore High Court overturned the death sentence and ordered the couple released. They had been on death row in two separate prisons, and would be freed after all the paperwork was done, said the lawyer. “I fought a legal battle for this innocent couple for years," Malook told The Associated Press. “I am happy that justice has been done to this poor wife and her husband.”