A sixteen-year-old Christian boy had to be forcefully rescued from a court hearing to escape when an angry mob demand he be hanged and threatened to burn his family alive.
Nabeel Masih is facing the death penalty after he posted a photo of the Kaaba in Mecca online. Local Muslims claim that the image showed the Kaaba with a pig's head above, making it insulting and sacrilegious to Islam.
The UK Express reports that a mob consisting of around 80 people from Pakistan's Punjab province was ready to attack the boy as he appeared in court this week.
Masih's legal team revealed, "There were about 80 people of different age groups including students that were present in the premises only for Nabeel's hearing and each of them was continuously calling on the phone for other people to come. Even the lawyers were threatened."
Aneeqa Maria from Pakistani Christian advocacy group, The Voice, is representing the teenager. According to Maria, the defense team was threatened by the prosecution.
She reported, "The prosecution lawyer said 'Do you have any idea in what cases are you appearing as a counsel? It's a blasphemy case and this man has blasphemed against Islam and you should know that Pakistan is an Islamic state, we are all Muslims, and these are Muslim courts so you should not defend such a criminal. You people come from Lahore to pursue this case. Here, we have unlimited people whom you cannot face, so you better watch yourself and stay away.'"
The hearing has been postponed to a later date that is yet to be set. Until a date is announced, Masih is being detained in prison, and his family has been forced to leave their homes in fear of violent attacks.