Judge sentences Muslim to prison for Jaranwala attacks on churches, acquits 13 others
By Christian Daily International/Morning Star NewsFriday, July 17, 2026
Police officials and residents stand amid debris outside the torched Saint John Church in Jaranwala on the outskirts of Faisalabad on Aug. 17, 2023, a day after an attack by Muslim men following the spread of false accusations that Christians had desecrated a copy of the Quran, the Islamic holy book. Police were guarding a Christian neighborhood in central Pakistan on Aug. 17, after hundreds of Muslim men rampaged through its streets setting fire to churches and ransacking homes over accusations of blasphemy a day earlier.
Police officials and residents stand amid debris outside the torched Saint John Church in Jaranwala on the outskirts of Faisalabad on Aug. 17, 2023, a day after an attack by Muslim men following the spread of false accusations that Christians had desecrated a copy of the Quran, the Islamic holy book. Police were guarding a Christian neighborhood in central Pakistan on Aug. 17, after hundreds of Muslim men rampaged through its streets setting fire to churches and ransacking homes over accusations of blasphemy a day earlier. | Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images
A court in Pakistan on Monday sentenced the first person to be convicted for anti-Christian violence in Jaranwala in August 2023, handing him 10 years in prison while acquitting 13 others due to flawed investigations, sources said.
Judge Waseem Mubarik of the Faisalabad Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) convicted and sentenced Irfan Yousaf, a Muslim, in two cases related to the desecration and arson of the Salvation Army Church and Peace Mission International Church during the Aug. 16, 2023, mob violence, said attorney Niaz Aamer.
The attacks erupted after two Christians were falsely accused of desecrating the Quran and insulting Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Hundreds of Muslims led by leaders of a now proscribed extremist party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, rampaged through Christian neighborhoods, burning 26 church buildings and damaging or looting at least 86 homes of Christians.
The court announced verdicts in three cases involving attacks on three churches, Aamer, who was part of the prosecution team, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. The First Information Reports (FIRs) named 14 suspects and between 100 and 150 unidentified suspects.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/judge-sentences-muslim-to-prison-for-jaranwala-attacks.html
