Anwar Kenneth surrounded by police. morningstar news
His lawyer describes it as “the biggest case in the legal history of Pakistan.” Anwar Kenneth, a 72-year-old Christian, has been on death row for almost 24 full years. While he remains imprisoned, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has quashed the death sentence against him.
Contrary to earlier reports, the Supreme Court did not announce Kenneth’s acquittal on June 25, 2025. His legal team continues to fight for his exoneration.
International human rights organizations had raised grave concerns over the case: Kenneth was said to be of unsound mind at the time of his arrest. A former government official, he was arrested on September 14, 2001, after sending a letter to a Muslim religious scholar and other prominent figures, expressing his beliefs as a Christian.
Kenneth, a former officer in the Fisheries Department of Pakistan, was in his 40s when he was arrested. CSI’s local partner in Pakistan says his letter exchange with the Muslim religious scholar and others proves that he was an educated person, with a profound understanding of the Bible. “His letter exchanges were part of a scholarly debate where religious arguments and principles were shared,” the partner said.
Sentencing and appeals
On July 18, 2002, a court in Lahore found Kenneth guilty of defaming the name of the prophet of Islam under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code. He was sentenced to death and ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 rupees.
The Lahore High Court upheld the initial conviction on June 30, 2014, and sentenced Kenneth to death by hanging, a sentence which was not carried out.
Ten years later, after his state-appointed attorneys had abandoned him, Kenneth’s new CSI-supported lawyer filed a final appeal with the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a bid to overturn the original conviction.
Lawyer threatened
After the hearing held June 25, 2025, at which the death sentence was lifted, Kenneth’s Supreme Court attorney told CSI that Kenneth was “an innocent person who had committed no blasphemy.” Yet no lawyer had wanted to take on the case, he said, because of threats and pressure from different parties. “There were also threats against me,” the attorney added.
The Supreme Court attorney was back in court on August 26 to argue for Kenneth’s conviction to be overturned. But lawyers acting for the state managed through “lame excuses” to convince the Supreme Court panel to delay a decision, he told CSI. They had argued that not all the relevant reports regarding Kenneth’s mental health issues had been produced.
On September 2, the court met again, on which occasion the registrar handed over all the relevant reports. The court will sit again in three weeks’ time.
“We hope that at the next date the matter may be decided positively,” Kenneth’s attorney said.
Blasphemy law abuses
Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws criminalize a range of offenses against Islam, including defiling the Qur’an and insulting the prophet of Islam. The latter carries the death sentence.
Since Pakistan’s current blasphemy laws came into force in 1987, nearly 2,000 people have been accused of blasphemy, according to a report from 2022; 86 people have been extrajudicially murdered after being accused.
The blasphemy laws have created a climate of impunity for religious terror in Pakistan. Bad actors can easily weaponize false blasphemy accusations, which are difficult to disprove, and these can quickly give rise to religious conflict as mobs take the law into their own hands.
Religious minorities and people of low social status are particularly vulnerable to abuses of the blasphemy laws and are often unable to afford a legal defense.
The number of blasphemy prosecutions in Pakistan is surging – in part owing to a sharp increase in allegations of “online blasphemy” brought by vigilante groups against young people, often Christians.
Learn more about CSI’s work in Pakistan here.
