Pakistan: Elderly and ailing, Nawab Bibi pleads with campaigners in the West to urge their leaders to pressure Pakistan for Zafar Bhatti’s release — so she can embrace her husband once more before it’s too late.

Zafar Bhatti, a devout Pakistani Christian and former charity worker, has endured an agonizing 13-year imprisonment after being arrested in July 2012 on false charges of blasphemy. In 2022, after a decade of judicial delays and suffering, he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death under Pakistan’s harsh and widely abused blasphemy laws. These laws continue to be wielded as weapons against religious minorities, with little regard for justice, evidence, or the devastating human cost.

Zafar has always maintained his innocence, asserting that the accusations were fabricated due to deep-seated religious bias and hostility toward his Christian identity. He is now the longest-serving blasphemy convict in Pakistan’s history, and his case epitomizes the brutal misuse of the law and the systematic persecution of Christians in the country.

On 21st October 2024, a court date was fixed for final arguments. However, the complainant’s lawyer, Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, failed to appear, sending an assistant to request a delay until 11:00 a.m. The presiding judge, Justice Ch. Abdul Aziz, rejected the request and ordered the complainant’s counsel to come fully prepared for the next hearing.

The new hearing, scheduled for 22nd January 2025, raised hopes again. Zafar’s legal counsel, Saif ul Malook, and the BACA team arrived ready to plead his case before Justice Sadiq Mehmud Khuram. Yet the judge rescheduled the hearing without proceeding, dashing the spirits of those who had come in faith.

Since then, four months have passed, and no new court date has been announced. Zafar’s life remains suspended in a state of indefinite suffering, caught in a system that appears indifferent to both his innocence and his health.

“I am very hopeful that it would not take long now, and Zafar will be released very soon.”

Health Crisis in Prison: A Life at Risk

Zafar’s unjust incarceration has taken a grave toll on his health. He now suffers from:

“I can’t walk with ease, as the wounds cause severe pain in my feet.”

“Through all these years, nothing could ever shake my faith in God. I know He knows my plight and pain — but it’s becoming unbearable now.”

“I take a selective diet and never miss my medicines, yet my sugar level is not under control.”

“My health is declining day by day, and I combat different fears.”

Wife Nawab Bibi: Frail, Injured, and Alone

BACA officer Edward Masih gently assists Nawab Bibi with her medication, offering vital care and comfort as she endures declining health while separated from her imprisoned husband, Zafar Bhatti.

Zafar’s wife, Nawab Bibi, has been his only regular visitor and emotional support. At 76 years old, her own health is rapidly deteriorating. Recently, she fell while trying to visit Zafar, injuring her hip and back. She was unable to make the journey between Lahore and Rawalpindi for several weeks.

After a recent fall left her in severe pain, Nawab Bibi was taken to hospital for a medical examination by BACA field officer Edward Masih — a vital act of care for the devoted wife of imprisoned Zafar Bhatti.

BACA staff immediately took her to a medical facility, where X-rays confirmed she had no bone fractures, but the pain was severe. With care and compassion, BACA provided her with medical attention and emotional support until she recovered enough to visit her husband on 24th April.

Zafar was deeply moved and grateful:

“I am thankful to BACA for taking care of my wife and her health.”

“Each month I wait for her. I have nobody other than her who comes and meets me and encourages me to fight with my condition.”

How You Can Help Zafar Bhatti Today

Zafar’s life hangs in the balance — both legally and medically. He has endured over 13 years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, under false charges. His case is a glaring injustice, but together, we can be part of the solution.

Zafar Bhatti has become a symbol of the suffering inflicted upon innocent Christians in Pakistan. But he is more than a symbol — he is a husband, a faithful believer, and a man in pain who urgently needs our help.

Juliet Chowdhry Trustee for British Asian Christian Association, said:

“It is heartbreaking to witness an innocent man wasting away behind bars while his frail wife counts her remaining days in loneliness and pain. Zafar Bhatti has endured over a decade of suffering for a crime he did not commit — a tragic consequence of Pakistan’s barbaric blasphemy laws, which are too often weaponised against Christians and other minorities. This is not justice; it is religious persecution dressed in legal robes. We call on every moral leader, every government that claims to stand for human rights, to demand Zafar’s release — before it’s too late for him and the woman who has never stopped waiting.”