Rasheed Masih in handcuffs on blasphemy charges in Okara District, Punjab Province, Pakistan. (Photo: Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)
A Christian in Pakistan with mental health issues has been arrested and charged under blasphemy, terrorism and sedition laws, sources said.
Police arrested Rasheed Masih, 48, on Aug. 6 and on allegations that he intended to incite religious tensions by recording a video against Islam and the government. Officers charged him under sections 295-A and 298 of the blasphemy law, 124-A related to sedition and Section 9 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, said his son Nabeel Rasheed of Hujra Shah Muqeem in Okara District, Punjab Province.
Masih has suffered from severe depression for the last two to three years after failing to get justice from the government and other entities, Rasheed said.
“He worked as a sanitary worker in a rural health center along with my mother Najma Rasheed, but he was targeted with false accusations when he raised his voice against corruption and theft of government resources by the Muslim staff members,” Nabeel Rasheed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “His Muslim colleagues were also opposed to him when he turned down their attempts to convert him to Islam.”
Instead of taking action on his complaints, the health department transferred him to other areas and later terminated his services in January 2018, Nabeel Rasheed said. Masih filed a petition in the Lahore High Court as well as the Punjab ombudsperson’s office against his unjust firing, but his pleas for justice fell on deaf ears, he said.
Litigation costs and unemployment resulted in a severe financial crisis for the Masih family.
“The situation reached a point where our parents could no longer afford education for their three children – two sons and a daughter,” Nabeel Rasheed said. “This crisis impacted Masih’s mental health, plunging him into severe depression.”
They took him to the mental health unit of Lahore General Hospital for treatment and later admitted him in the Punjab Institute for Mental Health, but he continued to suffer bouts of depression, he said.
“My father is a good man, but he has suffered a lot due to his Christian faith,” he said. “People who have nurtured grudges against him over the years for exposing their wrongdoings have conspired to implicate him in the false case, taking advantage of his mental health condition.”
Nabeel Rasheed said his mother also has been targeted with frequent transfers to far-flung areas and withholding of salary for months.
“This is the price we are continuing to pay as a family for my father’s stance against the corrupt system,” he said.
Masih is a devout Christian committed to upholding truth and serving humanity regardless of their religious backgrounds, Nabeel Rasheed said, adding, “He is a victim of the system and deserves sympathy.”
Christian attorney Lazar Allah Rakha said there are legal provisions for mental illness in blasphemy cases, including the insanity defense under Section 84 of the Pakistan Penal Code and the inability to be tried if of “unsound mind” under Section 464 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
“However, there is a significant gap between these laws and their application in practice, as mental illness is often not a successful defense, and individuals are still vulnerable to vigilante justice and prosecution due to the strong social and political pressures surrounding blasphemy laws,” said Rakha, who has successfully defended several persons falsely charged with blasphemy.
Moreover, Pakistan’s mental health system is under-resourced, and mental health is still a stigmatized issue, making it difficult to ensure proper assessments and treatment for defendants, he added.
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
© Christian Daily International-Morning Star News
