“It has been such a long ride for his family,” says Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA. “In those nine years, there was a Human Rights Commission report in Malaysia that blamed the Special Branch of the police. Then Susanna went to court, actually sued the government, and sued some of the police officers.”

Pastor Koh with his family
(Image courtesy of VOM on Facebook.)

There’s been a setback despite the court victory Susanna received last fall. In November, a judge ordered the investigation into Pastor Koh’s disappearance to be reopened and granted a financial settlement to his family. But the government appealed, and last month another judge issued a stay on the November ruling until the appeal is resolved. 

“The stay affects the financial award, but it also affects — and this is the part that Susanna is most disappointed about — that order to continue the investigation and to ‘report back to the judge your progress,’” says Nettleton. “For her, this entire lawsuit has not been about money. It’s been about answers: ‘I want to know what happened to my husband.’” 

Susanna is filing an appeal on the stay. She has told Nettleton that “even deciding the appeal, deciding the stay, could take three to five more years.” 

Pray for endurance for the Koh family. Ask God for the truth to be revealed through the Malaysian court system. 

“The fact that a judge ruled in Susanna’s favor and against the Malaysian government is very, very significant,” says Nettleton. “It will take more judges on the appeal court who have courage, who will stand up for the truth as well.”

Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Donald Tong/Pexels.

Koh’s wife, Susanna, has been locked in a legal battle since 2020 to discover what really happened to Koh. In November 2025, she won a significant victory in court. After years of the truth being hidden, a judge finally ruled that the government was indeed involved in Koh’s abduction. 

The court then ordered the government to pay the equivalent of millions of dollars in damages into a trust fund for the Koh family. On top of that, the government is to pay a daily fine of around $2,500 until Pastor Koh’s whereabouts are fully disclosed.

(Image courtesy of Joe Gratz/Flickr)

However, “Before the sun was down that day, the government had announced, ‘We’re going to appeal this,’” says Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA. 

Another ruling, with two critical delays

Fast forward to this week. On January 26, 2026, a different judge issued a stay to the November ruling.

That’s a problem for several reasons. In addition to the financial award for the Koh family, the November verdict ordered the police to re-open the investigation into Pastor Koh’s disappearance, and to report the the judge at regular intervals on the progress of the investigation. Now, that part of the verdict is put on hold. The police are no longer under a court order to investigate or report their progress.

Susanna and her lawyers are filing an appeal to the stay.

Another part of the latest ruling is that the judge allowed the government to postpone its payment until the appeal process is resolved. Nettleton says there is a logic to the judge’s decision, yet if you look closer, there’s a hole. 

“What the judge said is, ‘If the government pays Susanna Koh all this money and she goes and spends it, but then the government would win the appeal, she would have no way of paying back that money. So let’s just wait to pay until after the appeal is heard,’” he says. 

“But the interesting thing is that the original verdict does not just hand all this money to Susanna Koh. It actually puts it in a trust that cannot be dispersed until [Koh’s] whereabouts are determined. So that sort of seems to undermine what the judge said in awarding this stay.”

Stand with the Koh family

Keep the Koh family in your prayers as Susanna’s lawsuit against the Malaysian government and the police continues. Pray for a swift decision in the government’s appeal. 

“This prolongs their suffering, because they have to now go back to the court and keep talking about the abduction, and they still don’t know ‘What happened? Is he alive? Is he dead?'” says Nettleton. “They still have so many questions that haven’t been answered.”

(Graphic courtesy of VOM USA)

Yet despite this setback in the appeal process, God is at work!

“The incredible hope is still the fact that Susanna Koh won a court verdict against the government. We still need to say, ‘Praise the Lord that there was this victory. Praise the Lord that the truth was revealed, that it did come out in a court of law in Malaysia,’” says Nettleton.

VOM USA has stood with the Kohs throughout their legal battle. You can watch a video of Susanna telling her story at persecution.com. 

“This is an incredibly hard road that she has walked, and yet she testifies to the faithfulness of God, to His ability to stand with her,” says Nettleton. 

Header photo: Pastor Raymond Koh, center, with his wife Susanna and their family. (Photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA)

Bruce Allen with FMI shares this update: “Tomal and his family have reconciled in the weeks since then. But the local mosque saw that, ‘Oh, this Christian voice has been silenced because he’s in prison. He’s not able to lead his congregations right now. Let’s keep him in prison, even though the family has been reconciled.’”

Due to pressure from mosque leaders, Tomal was denied bail last week for the third time. The family is now taking an appeal for bail to the High Court in Dhaka, a city 200 miles away from their rural community.

Pastor Tomal with FMI in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“They’re taking it to, what we would say, a Supreme Court level,” says Allen. “Their reasoning is that since Dhaka is far removed from their home, the court there will be much less biased against Tomal and much less influenced by that local mosque.”

Pastor Tomal is resolved to keep sharing the hope of Christ with fellow prisoners, but it may be a long road.

“I take great encouragement from the fact that he is saying, ‘Light shines best in the darkness. So if I’m in the prison, this is where I’ll still do ministry, and there’s still hope,'” says Allen.

“Having said that, it’s still difficult for now his wife and his children who are Christians. They’re in a very vulnerable position in this society, without their husband, without their father, in the context of the wider society.”

A pastor from the same area has stepped up to serve Tomal’s family and care for his two congregations while he is in prison.

This is also where the global Church comes in. Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” Pray for Tomal, his family, his fellow pastor and churches. Pray for justice to be done in the courts of Dhaka. 

“We understand how wearing that can be, what a burden it is when the darkness presses in on you. Let us stand alongside Tomal and hold him up before our Father,” says Allen.

Header photo courtesy of FMI.

His legal team appealed the decision yesterday, saying the charges are political targeting.

One thing is certain: The high-profile will add pressure and complicate the debates for Pakistan’s general election later this year.

Nehemiah with FMI says, “I think Pakistan is the only country in the world that no prime minister has completed a full five-year tenure in Pakistan’s 75-years history.

“On 18 occasions, prime ministers have been removed under different circumstances including corruption charges, direct military coups, forced resignations, and even assassinations.

Pakistan flag (Photo courtesy of Abuzar Xheikh/Unsplash)

“So when Mr. Khan become prime minister, every Pakistani knew that he’s going be thrown out from the office in a year or two. And this is exactly what happened – that he was thrown out after three years and he had multiple charges on him.”

The last several years have been hard on Pakistanis with a crumbling economy and currently no functioning government.

Nehemiah says, “I was talking to our partner and he was very much worried for his congregation, for his family, that how he is going to feed them. But we praise God for ministries like FMI who are helping and ready to serve in these difficult situations in Pakistan.”

Only the Gospel can change hearts and offer hope in Pakistan. Please pray for this, and encouragement for FMI ministry partners who are sharing Jesus Christ with others.

Header photo of of Imran Khan, former PM of Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Financial Times/Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51005181@N05/8414079377)

Last week, the Pakistani Supreme Court heard Bibi’s appeal and reached a decision, but they have not yet released their verdict. In response, protestors and violent rioters took over Lahore and several other cities, smashing buildings in their frenzy and bringing neighborhoods to a standstill.

Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) organized the protests, and radicals have threatened the lives of judges if Bibi is released. So far, nobody has actually been executed in Pakistan for blasphemy.

Bibi’s case points to the vitriol that Pakistani Christians experience every day — both legally and at the hands of their Muslim neighbors.

Jason Woolford with Mission Cry says their ministry has heard firsthand what our Christian brothers and sisters face in Pakistan. “This particular gentleman who is a pastor from Pakistan had written our ministry and said, ‘Listen, we are under major persecution through Islam. There is forced conversion.’”

Woolford reflects, “We can talk about it, but we truly don’t understand that type of persecution where he is literally being threatened. But through all of that, he is still going on and wanting to get the Word of God and get it to people who are Christians there.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

Mission Cry collects used Christian books and Bibles and sends them for free to believers all over the world who need them. They get thousands of requests each week, but this request from the pastor in Pakistan stood out.

“With all of the things he is dealing with as a pastor there, he said, ‘We don’t have the money and we don’t have the resources for Bibles, Christian books, and for books for the kids that we are ministering to.’”

The ministry recently sent him free Christian books and Bibles both for kids and adults. In doing so, these Bibles and books are encouraging believers in their faith and giving them tools to share the Gospel message with others.

“The pictures that we have are just so powerful in seeing him laying these Bibles and Christian books out in his house/church in the middle of Pakistan and seeing the kids’ faces.”

According to Woolford, it’s incredibly humbling “just to see the persecution and the freedoms that he doesn’t have and that he needs to be worried about preaching the Gospel because Muslims…could come in and kill him and his kids. Yet, he is teaching and preaching the Gospel.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

“For me and for us that are listening, it’s a good reminder that we need to be more vocal in our faith and our community and our workspaces about what God has done for us. If people like this pastor in Pakistan can do it, we definitely should be doing it.”

If you have any gently used Christian books or Bibles to donate to Mission Cry, you can be an encouragement to fellow believers in other parts of the world.

Click here for details on how to give!

“Our biggest needs right now are Bibles and also children’s Bibles,” Woolford shares. “So when people send those to us…we’re able to get those resources and then send them directly. Last year, [we sent] over $13 millions worth of used Bibles and Christian books to 24 different nations and we’re on track to do that again this year.”

Please pray for the men and women suffering for the name of Christ in Pakistan. Ask God to give them the courage to persist under intense persecution, and that through their example, many others would know the Lord’s saving grace. Pray also for Bibi’s freedom.

(Header photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs)

Brunson was moved to house arrest less than a month ago due to health concerns. The Turkish government had imprisoned Brunson in a paranoid crackdown on multiple sectors following the failed 2016 coup.

Ismail Cem Halavurt, Brunson’s lawyer, told Reuters that an appeals process usually takes three to seven days but that we could hear an update sooner than that.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo courtesy of Pixabay)

Meanwhile, players on an international scale have turned Brunson’s case into a game of “chicken”. And so far, neither side seems to be backing down.

After Brunson was placed under house arrest, Washington sanctioned two Turkish ministers and announced that tariffs on metal imports will be doubled. Ankara struck back with doubled tariffs on select US imports such as alcohol, tobacco, and cars.

David Curry, President and CEO of Open Doors USA says, “The Trump administration has levied taxes and tariffs on the Turkish government that have really caused financial turmoil with their… currency. This has caused enormous turmoil for them, but I think what it has done in a sense is raise the value of religious expression and raised this discussion. Unfortunately, it has done a lot of harm to the Turkish economy and the Turkish people, but it’s really started with and continued by the carelessness…of the Turkish president in my opinion.

“Wisely, this administration has decided that human rights [are] a larger part of our diplomatic discussion. When you have a case like this which is so brazenly a hostage negotiation on behalf of what should be a diplomatic partner, there has to be punishments and there has to be leverage used to get them to come back to international norms where we can talk about what is going on and talk without threats and without economic impact.”

Andrew and Norine Brunson (Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

The US government says Brunson’s move to house arrest was inadequate and has repeatedly demanded Turkey release the American pastor. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has implied that he will only release Brunson if the US extradites Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric Erdogan believes orchestrated the 2016 coup.

“This is a case where a pastor is being held… hostage by the Turkish government so that the American government will release one of his political enemies. This pastor now has been through so many court cases recently.”

Brunson’s next court hearing will be on October 12. His hearings have been repeatedly pushed back and the defense is frustrated by a severe lack of evidence presented for the charges against Bruson.

Curry explains, “While I don’t understand all the labyrinth of the Turkish legal system, some of the facts are clear. One of them is the entire case against Pastor Brunson is paper thin. They won’t tell us who the accusers are that say he was some kind of conspirator. We’ve seen the charges that were brought against him, that his Christianity was referred to as ‘terrorism’. There is nothing there against an attack on Christian faith in Turkey and a desire to use an American Christian pastor as leverage with the American administration.”

Please continue to faithfully pray for Brunson, his family, and the Church in Turkey. Christians are under a lot of scrutiny in the Muslim-majority nation, and Brunson’s high profile case is an opportunity to represent Christ in difficult circumstances.

Pray specifically for Brunson’s faith to be strengthened. Ask the Lord to comfort him through Scripture. Pray also for the Turkish Church to be invigorated in ministry and united as the Body of Christ.

Curry also asks, “What we need is some wisdom. We need to pray for that, that the justice system will really step back and look at this case as it is.”

Learn more about how you can advocate for persecuted Christians with Open Doors USA!

Bibi was arrested back in 2009 and charged with blasphemy after a dispute at work with some Muslim women. She was convicted of blasphemy the following year and sentenced to death.

The Lahore High Court upheld Bibi’s death sentence in 2014. Her execution was stayed by the Supreme Court a year later. Bibi made a final appeal, but her hearing has been continually pushed off as she languishes on death row.

According to The Express Tribune, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar said to Bibi’s attorney, Saiful Malook, “Your appeal in Aasia Bibi [case] is going to be fixed soon as I myself will preside [over] the bench.”

Bruce Allen with FMI says there is hope that Bibi’s appeal may be heard as early as this summer.

“No date has been fixed yet, but that is good news that we could be coming near to the end of this legal battle on behalf of Asia Bibi.”

This latest development once again draws international attention to Bibi’s ongoing and controversial case. While political leaders and humanitarian organizations call for Bibi’s release, violent mobs in Pakistan protest her release.

Allen says, “In the case of Asia Bibi, even if the Supreme Court acquits her,…she is not safe on the streets of Pakistan. There are people who have it in their mind to kill her if she ever leaves prison.”

Bibi conveyed a message through her family asking Christians around the world to join in a day fasting and prayer last Friday.

Asia Bibi’s husband and two of her children. (Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

“It is giving her great emotional support to know that her brothers and sisters in Christ around the world are praying for her, are advocating on her behalf and trying to keep international attention focused on the case.”

The blasphemy law is often used as a hammer wielded to satisfy personal grudges in Pakistan. Christians especially are disproportionately targeted by these blasphemy accusations.

Another blasphemy case we are following is that of Ahmed, an influential laborer for Christ in Pakistan. Both he and his attorney have been attacked in court and the trial continues despite multiple affirmations that the charges against Ahmed are baseless.

Allen says, for Christians in Pakistan, “It’s very wearying for them. I know several who say, ‘When we see the attacks — whether they are the legal attacks where cases go to court like Asia Bibi or other types of just physical attacks in society, acid being thrown on people because of their faith — we see these things happening and it can just weigh us down and be very discouraging if that’s what we end up focusing on.”

For Asia Bibi, for Ahmed, and for all persecuted Christians in Pakistan, please lift them up in unified prayer as our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Asia Bibi (Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA)

“Pray for their perseverance. In the book of Hebrews, we are told to remember those in prison as if it were us. What would we want people to be remembering on our behalf when they are interceding for us? So pray for their perseverance, that they would hold up not just under physical difficulties, but the emotional difficulty — the loneliness that’s there, the separation from family, the physical separation from the people who are praying for you and would want to give you hugs and encouragement.”

Specifically, for Asia Bibi, Allen asks, “We want to pray for [her] attorneys [and] their families who are also undergoing this struggle…. Pray for their emotional stability [and] their wisdom in anticipating what next steps need to be taken because there could be so many different contingencies.”

You can also write a letter to Asia Bibi in prison through Voice of the Martyrs here.

These blasphemy laws target minorities, like Christians, who if they say or do something deemed offensive towards Islam or its prophet Muhammad, can be charged with blasphemy which results in a death sentence. And because the law is so subjective, it’s often used falsely to settle vendettas.

Taking Action

With that said, it looks like the country is finally taking action to reform this largely abused law. However, there’s reason to be wary.

“One of the problems is even when proposals are made…violence often erupts just at the mere thought of doing reform to the blasphemy laws because they consider that even then an insult to Islam,” FMI’s Bruce Allen explains.

“Governors have been assassinated by their own bodyguards when the governors have said, ‘Yeah, we need to address this [blasphemy law].’ So, it is very sensitive.”

(Photo courtesy of FMI).

Still, Allen is thankful the recent proposals included very specific changes to the law. Furthermore, Allen has prayed for years for Pakistan to change or get rid of its blasphemy laws. And there’s still hope this could be the answer to the prayer.

“The political rhetoric coming out of the parliament sounds good. And as Christians in the West, we can applaud that. But I also know that those proposals will face tough opposition from the recently formed Tehreek-e-Labaik party, because that party specifically seeks to make blasphemy laws more stringently applied,” FMI’s Bruce Allen shares.

Societal Challenges

In fact, it was this political party who rallied the masses last November and successfully shut down Pakistan’s capital for three weeks and paralyzed the government. They are not happy about the proposed changes to the blasphemy laws because they will bring accountability for the individuals making blasphemy accusations.

Pakistani Christians in church. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“Well, this proposal says if you make a false accusation, you should be held accountable to the same standards. And so, this sort of nonsense, all the false accusations, is a slight or an offense against Islam as well,” Allen says.

“We’re going to say you can be punished by a jail sentence of 10 years and a potential death sentence to balance out the punishment [with] those [who] are accused of blasphemy.”

Another proposal, if accepted, would require the plaintiff to produce two witnesses when registering a complaint. These witnesses must be willing to testify against the accused. By doing so, they also risk the same punishment if the plaintiff’s accusations are found false.

Allen expects there will be street rallies and calls for strikes and protests as the Pakistani government works through the process of potentially approving and implementing these proposals to the current blasphemy law.

Be Prayerful, Be Active

What this means for Christians both in Pakistan and worldwide, though, is a waiting game. So while we wait, let’s be active with our prayers.

Keep praying for Pakistan to reform its blasphemy laws and for justice in the country. Ask God to continue turning Pakistani hearts to him. FMI has watched as in the past few years, numerous Pakistanis have come to know Jesus as their Lord.

Pray for the Pakistani Christians who are in leadership and mentor positions to be equipped to do these things well. Also, pray for the next generation to be fortified in serving God and doing ministry.

Want to help equip Christians in Pakistan? Then consider supporting a Pakistani church planter or pastor or giving to FMI’s Tangible Resources fund.

Learn more about financially supporting a church planter/pastor through FMI here!

Get more details about the “Tangible Resources” fund and how to give here!

Andrew and Norine Brunson (Photo courtesy of World Watch Monitor)

A petition created by the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) for Brunson’s release currently has over 160,000 signatures. Click here to add your signature to the petition. Brunson is from Black Mountain, North Carolina. He and his family have lived in Turkey for 23 years.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA says, “Reportedly, the family has said when [Brunson] was called to the police station, he thought he was going down to pick up his permanent residency card which would mean [he] can stay in Turkey…. Instead, when he got there, they detained him and initially it was said, ‘We’re going to deport you.’ They detained he and his wife. Subsequently, they transferred him to a prison, they let his wife go, and now he is charged with being connected to terrorist groups. It’s unclear what that means.”

Court documents only cite an anonymous source for these charges laid against Brunson.  Nettleton says the arrest appears to be a political move.

“It seems to be two possibilities. One is the Islamic leader [Fethullah] Gulen who is in the United States, the Turks have asked the U.S. to extradite him back to Turkey, and the U.S. has said no. It is possible that Andrew Brunson is, in some ways, a pawn in that game to try to encourage the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen.

“The other possibility is just that [Brunson] was caught up in the crackdown that is going on across Turkey since the coup attempt last year. The numbers are staggering, more than 40,000 people have been arrested since the coup attempt — political party members, military personnel, journalists, teachers, judges, lawyers.”

So the big question for Brunson is… what now?

(Map courtesy of International Needs)

“The interesting thing is we don’t know what now,” says Nettleton. “The reality is the situation in Turkey right now is so fluid and they are under emergency powers. The government basically can do whatever they want without checks and balances. So really, I think right now we wait and see, and hope and pray he can be released. My understanding is the U.S. embassy there has made inquiries, they have followed the case and are working towards his release and his freedom, but at this point he is in the hands of the Turkish government.”

It’s not the first time the Church in Turkey has been targeted, especially now living in a post-failed-coup nation. The overwhelming majority of Turkey is Muslim, accounting for 99.8 percent of the population. Because of this, says Nettleton, “Christians are often seen as somewhat unpatriotic. The identity in the minds of so many Turks is ‘to be Turkish is to be Muslim’. So if you’re not a Muslim, it’s like you’ve turned your back on your national identity…. Any Christian sort of has a mark of suspicion against them.”

Even though the “what next” is still up in the air, there’s a few things you can do. You can sign the petition with ACLJ for Brunson’s release. And then the most helpful thing you can do is pray and take Andrew Brunson’s case before the throne of God.

“Pray for especially Andrew Brunson, for his wife Norine. This is a very challenging, difficult time for them. Norine has been allowed to visit him, but it’s been very controlled and it hasn’t been regular. So I think one of the very specific prayer requests is pray that she will be able to visit him and see him and interact with him on a regular basis as a means of encouraging him.”

(Photo courtesy of Spyros Papaspyropoulos via Flickr)

Nettleton asks, “I think another thing we can do after we pray is make sure our leaders here in America — our congressmen, our senators, our state department — is aware that we’re following this case and that we care about a Christian American citizen who is detained in Turkey. Encourage them to make inquiries and to really press the Turkish government that this is not a terrorist, this is an American Christian who has lived there for [over] 20 years, who loves Turkey and loves the people of Turkey, not a threat to the government, and he should be released immediately.”

Please also pray for the Church in Turkey as they live out boldness of faith. This season in Turkey has several people looking for answers — the government may fail, the military may fail, the Islamic faith may fail. Where else can they find hope?

“People who are not Christians are also going through this time of upheaval and maybe that gives them an extra spiritual sensitivity or an extra willingness to hear the Gospel. So pray that Christians in Turkey will be faithful in spite of so much going on around them, and also pray for God’s protection over them.”

Pakistan (MNN) — Today, the Pakistan Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Asia Bibi’s appeal against her death penalty sentence for blasphemy. A 51-year-old wife and mother, Bibi’s case has been ongoing and earned international attention over the past seven years.

A 51-year-old wife and mother, Bibi’s case has been ongoing and earned international attention over the past seven years. (Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada)

Forgotten Missionaries International’s Bruce Allen recaps Bibi’s situation for us:

“Her incident took place in 2009, and it was a result of her trying to share water with colleagues and a discussion that ensued after that because her Muslim coworkers were offended by the fact that she would share water from a vessel she had drunk from, and that was taboo for them [because she is a Christian].

“Her initial imprisonment [was] just shortly thereafter in 2009, and she was sentenced to death in 2010. That sentence obviously has not been served in terms of being implemented, but she has just languished in a series of prisons over the course of time. Sometimes she has been transferred because of death threats while she’s in prison. So there have been security factors. There have been health issues for her as well.

“In summer 2015, there was a hearing at the Supreme Court in Pakistan. They suspended implementing that death sentence. It still stands that she is sentenced to death, but they were permitting an appeal.”

That appeal court date for Bibi is today, Allen explains. “Her lawyer is going to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider deficiencies that are in the case, in my mind some glaring deficiencies, because this appeal was allowed. So he’s going to be citing poor investigation and manipulation of evidence by the local police.”

One big question with this appeal: is it truly a glimmer of hope for Bibi and her family?

“There is a chance she could be released,” says Allen. “Many Christians around the world are continuing to pray for her, for her release, for her freedom, for her family to be reunited. And yet, I’d have to say even if she is released, there is still the sentence of death hanging over her, not in the legal judicial sense, but just from mob violence because the Muslims do want her dead.”

(Image courtesy of Forgotten Missionaries International)

Justice in Pakistan is very hard to come by, even for the average citizen. But it is especially true for Pakistani Christians and other religious minorities.

Allen shares, “One of the interesting things, though, that even our national director in Pakistan reminds me of is the court decision, even though it will be heard by a jury, the jury is selected, hand-picked, by the government. So the government is basically ensuring any verdict the court is going to surrender will be in party line, so they deal with very little implications or repercussions. It will be interesting to see what the court actually decides in the next few days regarding Asia Bibi.”

Bibi’s case has snagged the attention of the international community. High profile organizations and individuals such as Pope Francis and The European Parliament have called for Bibi’s pardon. The outcome of her case will be a reflection on humanitarian rights in Pakistan.

There have been positive hints or strides towards justice in Pakistan. Last week, a joint session of Parliament in Pakistan unanimously approved anti-rape and anti-honor killing legislation. Yet, only time will tell if the legislation truly invokes change.

Meanwhile, Bibi awaits the jury’s decision on her appeal. And she isn’t the only one stuck in Pakistan’s judicial limbo, remarks Allen.

“There are 500 people at least, Christians, who are in prison on these blasphemy charges. Most of them are all trumped-up because people just use them to say, ‘I have a bone to pick with someone, so I’m going to accuse them of blasphemy,’ and then that person’s life is in upheaval. They’ll just languish in prison. And even though a life sentence is only supposed to be 14 years, many of those blasphemy cases, they’ve been languishing in prison for more than 30 years.”

Please pray today for Asia Bibi, that she would be released from prison and protected from violence. Pray that her faith and courage would remain strong, no matter what happens, and that others would see her witness and come to know Jesus Christ.

Click here to learn more about Forgotten Missionaries International.