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 federal 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 a few years after failing to get justice from the federal government and other entities, Rasheed said.
“He worked as a sanitary employee in a rural hospital together with my mother Najma Rasheed, but he was targeted with false accusations when he raised his voice against corruption and theft of presidency resources by the Muslim staff members,” Nabeel Rasheed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “His Muslim colleagues were also against him when he turned down their attempts to convert him to Islam.”
Instead of taking motion 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 within the Lahore High Court in addition to 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 some extent where our parents could now not afford education for his or her 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 within the Punjab Institute for Mental Health, but he continued to suffer bouts of depression, he said.
“My father is an excellent man, but he has suffered rather a lot resulting from his Christian faith,” he said. “People who’ve nurtured grudges against him over time for exposing their wrongdoings have conspired to implicate him within the false case, making the most 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 worth we’re 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 no matter 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 shortcoming to be tried if of “unsound mind” under Section 464 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
“However, there may be a big gap between these laws and their application in practice, as mental illness is usually not a successful defense, and individuals are still vulnerable to vigilante justice and prosecution resulting from the strong social and political pressures surrounding blasphemy laws,” said Rakha, who has successfully defended several individuals falsely charged with blasphemy.
Moreover, Pakistan’s mental health system is under-resourced, and mental health continues to be a stigmatized issue, making it difficult to make sure proper assessments and treatment for defendants, he added.
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it’s most difficult to be a Christian.
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