A 16-year-old boy Christian boy charged with blasphemy has been denied a bail by the lower court.

Nabeel Masih was arrested on18th September 2016 under charges of blasphemy after being implicated in posting a derogatory image of Islam’s most sacred site, the Kabaah, on Facebook.

His legal team emphasised that as a juvenile with no previous criminal history activity. and since he posted this image in naivety, he should be granted bail.

But the magistrates’ court rejected this plea on February 7.

The Christian defense team also complained that the Muslim prosecution lawyers have been intimidating them during this and previous hearings. Even during the court proceedings, they were threatened and warned that Pakistan is a Muslim county and protecting someone who committed blasphemy could be very dangerous.

This is not the first occasion on which a defense lawyer has been threatened or warned off so they can withdraw themselves from a case. And this is now common practice. The same situation even has to be faced by Muslim lawyers.

Rashid Rehman, a Muslim lawyer, faced such threats and when he was representing a client who charged under blasphemy law and ultimately killed in 2014. Sadly, the government is aware of these threats but has never taken security measures for the lawyer or their clients.

A fair trial and justice is everyone’s right and it is the government’s responsibility to make this possible.