Remembering Pastor Zafar Bhatti
Pakistan – October 2025
My heart was full of gratitude this Thanksgiving season when I learned that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had acquitted Pastor Zafar Bhatti on October 2, 2025, after a 13-year-long struggle with the justice system.
But that joy was short-lived. Just two days after his release, on Sunday, October 7, Pastor Bhatti passed away from a heart attack at the age of 62. He was one of Pakistan’s longest-serving blasphemy prisoners, having endured more than a decade of wrongful imprisonment and suffering.
A Life Marked by Faith and Endurance
Zafar Bhatti, a Christian pastor, was arrested on July 22, 2012, after being accused of sending text messages that allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad’s mother. He was reportedly tortured into confessing, though he consistently denied the charges throughout his imprisonment.
On May 3, 2017, he was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (“insulting the Prophet Muhammad”), and on June 22, 2021, Bhatti’s conviction was upheld by a sessions court judge in the Rawalpindi District.
On January 2022, a Rawalpindi Sessions Court escalated that punishment to a death sentence.
While imprisoned at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Bhatti endured harsh conditions, including reportedly being attacked. He survived in an 8-by-11-foot cell, sleeping on a hard concrete floor through both scorching summers and chilly winters. He suffered from heart disease and diabetes, yet his spirit remained unbroken. Despite his frail health, Pastor Bhatti continued to profess his unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, and his innocence through repeated appeals.
Personal Encounters Behind Bars
During my mission trip to Pakistan in 2021, I regularly visited Adiala Jail each week, usually taking Pastor Bhatti’s wife Nawab Bibi with me. We would arrive before 8 a.m. to get through the visitor’s registration and security check. Our care packages of food and personal items for him were carefully inspected.
He would emerge from his tiny cell wearing a large cross around his neck, greeting me with the words, “The Lord Jesus is the Saviour.” We would stand on opposite sides of the heavy iron bars and pray together.
Each time I left, Bhatti would make the sign of the cross on my forehead, and on the forehead of his devoted wife, Nawab Bibi. He never lost his hope or faith.
After our visits, I would drive Bibi home. At her residence, she would share their wedding memories, showing me old photographs that still hang in their modest home. The photo included here was taken from that very wall.
Advocacy and Hope
In February 2022, our organization, CAPC (Canadian Aid to Persecuted Christians), wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, urging diplomatic pressure on the Pakistani government to secure Bhatti’s release. His case had become a symbol of both the flaws in Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and of faith that endures under persecution.
A Life of Suffering, a Death in Faith
Pastor Zafar Bhatti’s story is one of unshakable faith amid injustice. Sadly, his acquittal came too late to save his life, and his devoted wife was robbed of his companionship during the final 13 years of his life. The acquittal stands as a sign of hope, as well as a powerful reminder of the urgent need for reform and accountability within Pakistan’s legal system.
May his soul rest in eternal peace, may his grieving widow be comforted in the hope of eternal life for those who believe in Christ, and may his courage continue to inspire all who work for justice, faith, and religious freedom.