Praise God for answered prayers with the acquittal of Christian brothers Umar Saleem and Umair Saleem on charges including “blasphemy” following the anti-Christian riots that ravaged the Christian area of Jaranwala in August 2023. Defence lawyer Tahir Bashir told the Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad on 29 February that the brothers were innocent and there was no evidence against them. Bashir, a lawyer with the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), which provides legal aid to Christians, with support from Barnabas Aid, informed the court that a police investigation had exonerated both brothers. Police confirmed to the court that two Muslim men plotted to implicate the brothers because of a “personal enmity” against them. The Muslim men have been arrested and are being held in jail. The Muslim men’s unfounded allegations that the Saleem brothers had desecrated pages of the Quran stirred up a Muslim mob to rampage through the Christian area of Jaranwala city on 16 August 2023, burning at least 24 churches and several dozen smaller chapels and attacking the homes of more than 100 believers.
