Christian accused of blasphemy on the run with $10,000 bounty on his head

'I cannot believe that such things are still happening in this world.'

A young man has been accused of blasphemy after allegedly searching for and watching anti-Muslim content on YouTube with his phone, leading to a $10,000 bounty.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), a humanitarian group that helps persecuted Christians in Pakistan, the young man accused of blasphemy, Imran, is on the run.

The bounty calls simply for "his body," indicating it does not matter if he is dead, alive, beaten or worse.

CLAAS released a statement in which they explained Imran was accused of watching anti-Islamic videos on a phone after one of his colleagues, Bilal, took the device, looked up the content and accused Imran of blasphemy.

Without stopping to ask questions, Imran was beaten and arrested, where he remained imprisoned until the local Catholic Church released him.

Three days later, Imran discovered a fatwa - a religious decree calling for the murder or capture of a person - was issued for him.

According to Christian Today, Bilal went to Muslim scholars to describe the blasphemous incident and the group called for the fatwa without bothering to investigate.

When news of the fatwa reached the local mosque, a decree was issued for Muslims to boycott Christian businesses. Christians were then banned from purchasing food and other goods from Muslim shops while one businessman went as far as offering a 10 lakh Pak-rupees - nearly $10,000 - for Imran's body.

So Imran ran.

CLAAS described the situation in Imran's village, which told other Christians to convert, leave or deliver Imran to authorities.

CLAAS UK's director Nasir Saeed claimed local Muslims have "no right to impose any of these conditions" and added: "I cannot believe that such things are still happening in this world. Such treatment towards Pakistani Christians is a slap on the face of the Punjab and central government, and to all those who never tire of telling the world that minorities are protected and enjoying equal rights in the country.

"I don't understand how watching a video on the internet can be criminalised as an act of blasphemy. And if this is blasphemy then all those who watch this video or any other videos against Islam have committed blasphemy and everyone should be arrested, charged and punished under the blasphemy law.

"I believe this is not an act of blasphemy and if people still think Imran has committed blasphemy then he should be punished according to the law. No one has any right to take the law into their own hands, harass local Christians, threaten them, burn Imran alive or force Christians to convert to Islam or leave the village.

"Such conditions from lay people make a mockery of the law. The Government of Pakistan must take this matter seriously, provide protection to the local Christians, and those who are breaking the law should be dealt according to the law."

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