Islamabad, November 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of Christian man Qaiser Ayub and upheld his death sentence in a blasphemy case, leaving him with limited legal options. The same bench acquitted his younger brother, Amoon Ayub, citing insufficient evidence. Amoon was released after spending nearly 12 years in prison, according to a report.
The case dates back to 2011, when allegations emerged that blasphemous material had appeared on a website associated with Qaiser Ayub. He has maintained that he shut down the website in 2009 and that someone else later reactivated it, leaving his name in the copyright notice. He has claimed that a third party used the abandoned website to post the content, A Sahara Alexander reported in Bitter Winter.
The brothers were arrested in 2014 and sentenced to death by a trial court in 2018. The Lahore High Court upheld their convictions in 2022. The prosecution’s case largely relied on electronic evidence, raising questions among human rights activists about how the material was authenticated and whether investigators established who controlled the website when the content was posted.
The Supreme Court found the evidence insufficient to sustain Amoon Ayub’s conviction but upheld the death sentence against Qaiser Ayub. The UK-based Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), which supported the brothers during the proceedings, expressed concern over the verdict and called for every available legal option to be pursued on Qaiser’s behalf.
Separately, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has raised concerns over the treatment of religious minorities in the country. In its latest report, Sanctuary Denied: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2025/26, the organisation documented cases of alleged abductions and forced marriages involving Hindu and Christian girls, blasphemy accusations and attacks on minority communities.
“Girls from minority communities continued to disappear and be coerced into wedlock by older Muslim men. An underage Christian girl’s ordeal is included in the report alongside that of Hindu girls. Weak police response and poverty worsened the struggles of the victims and their families. Alarmingly, a Hindu human rights activist posted on a social platform about alleged threats from a right-wing party for his activism against forced marriages of Hindu girls in Sindh,” the HRCP stated.
The report also highlighted what it described as the misuse of blasphemy laws, stating that hundreds of accused people remain caught in legal proceedings while alleged members of an organised entrapment network have yet to be investigated.
It further documented attacks on the Ahmadiyya community, including two extremist attacks in Chenab Nagar, and attempts to exclude Ahmadis from public and commercial life.
“The weaponisation of blasphemy law continued during the reporting period, with recurring patterns of personal vendetta, extortion and misguided religiosity driving the accusations. Although religious minorities are common targets, an influential scholar of the majority religion was also accused of blasphemy after making comments about the Christian faith,” the report said.
FOLLOW NOW
