Zafar Bhatti, a 62-year-old Pakistani Christian pastor, died of cardiac arrest on October 5, three days after a court acquitted him of blasphemy charges and freed him from 13 years of imprisonment.
The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench overturned Bhatti’s conviction on October 2. His lawyer Saif ul Malook presented arguments that led to the acquittal. Bhatti, who founded the Jesus World Mission Church, was released from Adiala Central Jail in Rawalpindi that evening.
Bhatti had been acquitted after a 13-year legal battle over blasphemy charges he consistently denied.
A Muslim cleric filed a complaint against Bhatti in July 2012, accusing him of sending text messages defaming the mother of Prophet Muhammad. Police arrested Bhatti and reportedly tortured him to extract a confession. He maintained his innocence. The phone SIM card in question was registered to a woman who was arrested, granted bail, and died in November 2016 from Hepatitis C.
A court sentenced Bhatti to life imprisonment in May 2017. The sentence was increased to death in December 2021. During the hearing on September 25, Justice Jawad Hassan rejected the prosecution’s claim that the SIM card was linked to Bhatti’s phone. Malook argued that voice recording alone could not sustain a conviction. The judges accepted this reasoning and acquitted Bhatti.
Bhatti developed diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and depression during his imprisonment. He suffered heart attacks in 2019 and 2020. In 2022, he vomited blood after receiving medication from the prison medical team. By early 2025, prison medical staff noted his heart function had deteriorated to around 15 percent.
His wife Nawab Bibi, 76, had struggled to make ends meet after her husband’s arrest and became sick and bedridden during his imprisonment. When she learned of his acquittal, she wept with relief.
The British Asian Christian Association (BACA) had scheduled a medical check-up for Bhatti on October 6. On the evening of October 5 at around 8:30 pm, Nawab Bibi called BACA officers. She said her husband was unwell and needed urgent medical care. BACA called the emergency helpline. Paramedics arrived but Bhatti had suffered a fatal cardiac arrest before he could be transferred to hospital.
BACA reported that Nawab Bibi was inconsolable after her husband’s death. Bhatti is survived by his wife. The couple had no children. His body was transported to Karachi for burial in his hometown where his family lives.
Juliet Chowdhry, trustee of BACA, said in an email to Christian Today: “Zafar Bhatti’s faith never wavered, even through years of injustice and pain. Though his passing came too soon, we take comfort knowing he died a free man, vindicated at last and now resting in the eternal peace of Christ.”
Malook told reporters that Bhatti was a victim of the prison system. “He needed a heart specialist, but our prisons only have general physicians,” he said. He added that there is little hope anyone will pursue compensation for Bhatti’s wrongful imprisonment.
Naeem Yousaf Gill, executive director of the Catholic Bishop’s National Commission for Justice and Peace, said Bhatti’s death highlights the need for prison reforms. “Even those accused under blasphemy laws remain human beings whose dignity and basic rights must be protected,” he said. “Authorities must ensure that prisoners facing long detentions, especially under sensitive charges, receive medical care, legal aid, and mental health support in line with Pakistan’s human rights commitments.”
Bhatti had been Pakistan’s longest-serving blasphemy prisoner. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws date back to British colonial rule when authorities criminalised derogatory remarks against religious groups. The laws remained after independence in 1947. General Zia ul-Haq’s military government strengthened them in the 1980s, adding provisions for life imprisonment or death for offences against Islam.
A 2024 report by the National Commission for Justice and Peace recorded 17 Christians accused under blasphemy laws in Pakistan that year, all from Punjab province. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan noted in its 2024-2025 report that those accused of blasphemy face particular danger and are often kept in isolation to protect them from attacks by other inmates. Christians cleared of blasphemy charges face violent reprisals from extremists and often must live in hiding.
In September 2014, rumours spread that Bhatti had been shot dead by a police officer in jail. The actual victim was a 71-year-old British Muslim prisoner in an adjacent cell who was also sentenced to death for blasphemy. The police officer assigned to protect him shot him in the chest. The officer later admitted he planned to kill all inmates accused of blasphemy.
BACA has written to the UK Home Office, Foreign Office, and several British parliamentarians urging intervention to secure asylum for the couple.
Image taken from here.
