Despite pressure from radical Islamic groups, Pakistani Christian Haroon Shehzad, also known as Haroon Masih, was acquitted of blasphemy charges in court on 8 November 2025. On the eve of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha in 2023, the 49-year-old had quoted from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 18 to 22, on the social network Facebook without comment. Among other things, it states:

“No, but what is sacrificed there is not sacrificed to God, but to demons. However, I do not want you to be involved with demons.”

A Muslim neighbour read this, related it to his religious community, filed a complaint and incited the village community against the Christian. Shehzad was behind bars from 30 June to 6 November 2023.

Although the court had already decided on 3 July 2023 to release him on bail, he was subsequently illegally taken into police custody under the pretext of “security measures”. The court was under enormous pressure: around 150 radical Islamic fanatics attended the hearing at times.

The ISHR’s Pakistani partner organisation, The Voice Society, refused to be intimidated: despite serious personal threats against the team and its lawyers, they consistently attended all hearings. The organisation took care of both the legal defence and the immense responsibility for Haroon’s safety.