Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar, a married couple with four children, lived in poverty in a mission compound at Gojra Church in the Toba Tek Singh District of Punjab, Pakistan. Shagufta was the sole provider for the family, as Shafqat was confined to a wheelchair due to a spinal injury from an accident in 2004 that left him paralyzed below the chest.
In July 2013, Shafqat and Shagufta were arrested after being accused of sending a text message deemed blasphemous against the Islamic prophet Muhammad. During the investigation, they endured severe torture. Shagufta later reported, “The officers told my husband that if he did not confess, they would strip me naked and make me run around on the street, and so he confessed, even though we were both innocent.” Shafqat was hung upside down, beaten, and tortured into a confession.
On April 4, 2014, the illiterate couple was sentenced to death by an additional session judge in Toba Tek Singh for allegedly sending the blasphemous message in English. Despite their inability to read or write, the judge handed down the death sentence, marking them the first Pakistani couple to receive a death sentence for blasphemy. Even the prosecuting attorneys threatened the judge, declaring they would become “ghazis” (Muslim warriors), like Ilm-ud-din and Mumtaz Qadri, if the couple was not sentenced to death.
