The phone calls always ended the same way. As *Fatima moved from one lawyer’s office to another in Islamabad, pleading for someone to defend her younger brother, she was met with refusals. Most lawyers simply said the case was too dangerous.
Her brother, *Ali, had been accused of blasphemy.The 21-year-old recent graduate was due to appear before a court in Islamabad in 2024. Yet as the hearing drew closer, his family found themselves confronting a reality that has become familiar to many Pakistanis accused under the country’sblasphemy laws: securing legal representation can be almost as difficult as fighting the charges themselves.
“The lawyers would always say they could not put their lives in danger for this case,” Fatima told The News.In Pakistan, blasphemy is punishable by death, and lawyers who defend those accused often face threats and intimidation. The risks became starkly apparent in 2014 when human rights lawyer Rashid Rehman was shot dead in Multan after taking on the defence of university lecturer Junaid Hafeez, who had been charged with allegedly committing blasphemy.
More than a decade later, the fear generated by cases such as his continues to shape who is willing to stand beside those accused.Some lawyers refused to take Ali’s case altogether. Others quoted fees so high that Fatima’s family could not afford them.“We are a middle-class family,” Fatima said. “We cannot pay that much money.”She is not the only one.
Interviews with relatives of people accused of blasphemy revealed a recurring pattern: lawyers declining cases because of security concerns, pressure from religious groups, fear of public backlash or concerns for their families’ safety.For many accused individuals, the search for legal representation becomes a second battle running parallel to the criminal case itself.
*Sohail, who spent more than three years in prison on blasphemy charges before recently being granted bail, said his family encountered similar obstacles.
One lawyer accepted Rs1 million from his father and initially agreed to fight the case. But after receiving threats from extremist groups, he stopped appearing in court.
Another lawyer declined to represent him altogether.Maheen Paracha, the spokesperson for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said a climate of fear now surrounds blasphemy allegations in Pakistan, one that affects not only those accused but also those who might be willing to defend them.
“We have seen lawyers who agree to represent individuals accused of blasphemy become vulnerable to threats, harassment, social ostracism and, in some cases, risks to their personal safety,” Paracha told The News.
“Even where lawyers believe strongly in the principles of due process and fair trial rights, many are reluctant to take on such cases because of concerns for their own security and that of their families.”She added that sometimes lawyers also cannot necessarily rely on support from their colleagues either.
“In 2025, for instance, the District Bar Association of Mansehra passed a formal, unanimous ban on defending such [blasphemy] cases,” Paracha said. “That left the accused with virtually no local legal counsel.”
For several of these families, particularly those involving young men whose relatives allege they were entrapped by an extortion network involving lawyers and public officials -- a group that has become known as the ‘blasphemy gang’ -- help came from two young human rights lawyers: Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatta. The pair took on many of the cases free of charge.
They became one of the few doors that remained open. Then, earlier this year, that door too closed when the two were arrested in January while travelling to court and later sentenced to 10 years in prison under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). Their prosecution has drawn criticism from rights groups such as Amnesty International.
Families of blasphemy-accused individuals, who were represented by them, told The News that their legal proceedings slowed or stalled after the lawyers were jailed. Some suddenly found themselves back where they had started -- searching once again for someone willing to represent them.
“We are really suffering since they have been imprisoned,” said *Ahmed, whose brother faces blasphemy charges.“Most of these victims and their families do not have the kind of money needed to fight such cases. Nor do they have the knowledge or the contacts.”
He paused before asking a question that many families now find themselves confronting.“Who do they turn to now?”*Names have been changed to protect identities.
