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Updated 3/22/2010 6:14 AM GMT

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Pakistan

Pakistani Muslims Accused of Rape Allegedly Attack Sisters

Published in 2010

LAHORE, Pakistan, March 18 (CDN) — Five Muslims allegedly ransacked the house of an impoverished Christian in this capital city of Punjab Province last month and angrily beat his daughters in an effort to get the family to withdraw rape charges. Muhammad Sajjid wielding ....

Pakistan’s ‘Blasphemy’ Laws Claim Three More Christians

Published in 2010

KARACHI, Pakistan, March 10 (CDN) — A Christian couple was sentenced to 25 years in prison for violating Pakistan’s widely condemned “blasphemy” laws last week, and another Christian convicted without basis under the same statutes the previous week received the same sentence. In ....

Islamic Gunmen Kill Christian Aid Workers in Pakistan

Published in 2010

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 10 (CDN) — Suspected Islamic militants armed with guns and grenades stormed the offices of a Christian relief and development organization in northwest Pakistan today, killing six aid workers and wounding seven others. The gunmen besieged the offices ....

Unnamed Christians Accused after Muslim Attack in Pakistan

Published in 2010

KARACHI, Pakistan, February 26 (CDN) — In the wake of an attack this week by 150 armed Muslims on a Christian colony in this city in Sindh Province, police have filed a false First Information Report (FIR) against 40 unnamed Christians and arrested five, Christian leaders said. ....

Pakistani Christian Beaten for Refusing to Convert to Islam

Published in 2010

KALLUR KOT, Pakistan, February 22 (CDN) — The four older Muslim brothers of a 26-year-old Christian beat him unconscious here earlier this month because he refused their enticements to convert to Islam, the victim told Compass. Riaz Masih, whose Christian parents died when he was ....

Violent Death of Girl in Pakistan Spurs Push for Justice

Published in 2010

LAHORE, Pakistan, January 28 (CDN) — A daring protest and a high-profile funeral here on Monday (Jan. 25) for a 12-year-old Christian girl who died from torture and malnourishment has cast a rare spotlight on abuse of the Christian poor in Pakistan. In an uncommon challenge in the ....

Pakistani Christian Sentenced to Life under ‘Blasphemy’ Law

Published in 2010

FAISALABAD, Pakistan, January 22 (CDN) — A young Christian shopkeeper was sentenced to a life term in prison and fined more than $1,000 last week following a dubious conviction of desecrating the Quran, according to Pakistan’s National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP). Peter Jacob, ....

Two Christians Critically Wounded at Wedding in Pakistan

Published in 2010

TOBA TEK SINGH, Pakistan, January 14 (CDN) — Two Pakistani Christians who were shot at a wedding on Dec. 26 for refusing to convert to Islam are still receiving treatment at a hospital intensive care unit, but doctors are hopeful that they will recover. In low, barely audible voices, Imran ....

Muslim Mob in Pakistan Wounds Christian Family

Published in 2010

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, January 4 (CDN) — Infuriated by an alleged anti-Islamic comment by a mentally ill man, more than a dozen Muslims attacked his Christian family here last week, beating his 20-year-old sister unconscious and breaking her leg. The woman’s father, Aleem Mansoor, ....

Accused Pakistani Christian Says Muslims Tried to Coerce Him

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, December 29 (CDN) — A Pakistani Christian accused of killing a Muslim during the Aug. 1 Islamist attack on Christians in Gojra said he was arrested and tortured only because he was a key witness of the mob assault that left at least seven Christians burned to death. ....

Pakistani Muslims Gun Down Christian Friend

Published in 2009

MUREEDKAY, Pakistan, December 21 (CDN) — A group of Muslims shot their Christian friend dead this month on the outskirts of this town after saying they would spare his life only if he recanted his faith, according to the young man’s father. The friends of Patras Masih, who died from ....

Christians Accused of Desecrating Quran Freed

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, December 16 (CDN) — A Christian in Faisalabad district and his 20-year-old daughter were released on Monday (Dec. 14) after 14 grueling months in jail on false charges of blaspheming the Quran. Khalil Tahir, attorney for Gulsher Masih and his daughter Ashyana ....

Pakistani Muslims Allegedly Poison Christian Employees to Death

Published in 2009

GUJRANWALA, Pakistan, December 15 (CDN) — Muslim employers of three Christian sanitation workers at a banquet/wedding hall here allegedly poisoned the three workers yesterday, killing two of them; at press time the third was struggling for life in intensive care. The father of the three ....

Church Screening of ‘Jesus Film’ Attacked in Pakistan

Published in 2009

SARGODHA, Pakistan, December 14 (CDN) — Some 50 Muslim villagers armed with clubs and axes attacked a showing of the “Jesus Film” near this city in Punjab Province on Wednesday night (Dec. 9), injuring three part-time evangelists and four Christians in attendance. Two of the ....

Pakistani Christian on Run from Taliban Death Threat

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, November 27 (CDN) — A young Christian man is in hiding in Pakistan from Taliban militants who seek to kill him for “blasphemy” because he defended his faith. In February Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, ....

Police Torture Christians Arrested in Islamic Attack

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, October 23 (CDN) — Two Christians in Gojra, Pakistan who allegedly fired warning shots as an Islamist mob approached that burned seven Christians to death on Aug. 1 told Compass they were tortured after police arrested them. Only one of hundreds of Muslim ....

Police Shoot Mourners at Funeral of Christian

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, September 17 (CDN) — At a funeral for a Christian man allegedly tortured to death while in custody on a spurious charge of blaspheming the Quran, police in Sialkot, Pakistan yesterday fired on mourners trying to move the coffin to another site. Area Christians ....

Christians in Pakistan Fear Further Firestorms

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, September 8 (CDN) — In the wake of Islamists setting fires that killed at least seven people in Punjab Province last month, the latest of several attempts to provoke further attacks on Christians took place in a village on Friday (Sept. 4) when unidentified men tore ....

Christians Strive for Justice following Onslaught

Published in 2009

GOJRA, Pakistan, August 5 (CDN) — A standoff here between Pakistani officials and Christians protesting the government’s reluctance to prosecute a murderous Islamic assault ended with officials finally consenting to file a complaint against key Muslim clerics and security ....

Christians Burned to Death in Islamist Attacks

Published in 2009

GOJRA, Pakistan, August 1 (CDN) — Islamic extremists today set ablaze more than 50 houses and a church in this town in northeastern Pakistan following an accusation of “blasphemy” of the Quran, leaving at least 14 Christians dead, sources said. The dead include women and ....

Pakistani Minority Rights Defender Said To Be Victim of Islamists

Published in 2009

LOS ANGELES, July 23 (CDN) — Pakistani minority rights defender Joseph Francis has been unjustly jailed by Islamists and others who oppose his work on behalf of Christians, according to the legal aid organization Francis directs. An Islamist in Punjab Province who said he had ....

Islamists Get Minority Rights Leader Jailed in Pakistan

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, July 14 (CDN) — Well-known Pakistani minority rights activist Joseph Francis and two others were jailed on Sunday (July 12) for forged documents in connection with false charges of assaulting a woman who visited his office in 2006, their lawyers said. Francis, ....

Muslims Attack 110 Homes of Christians in Pakistan

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, July 3 (CDN) — After a Muslim beat a Christian field worker for asking him to let him pass on Tuesday (June 30), a cleric in a village near here used a mosque loudspeaker to announce a call to attack Christians that resulted in more than 500 Muslims ransacking and ....

Tortured Pakistani Christian Languishing on False Charges

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, June 23 (CDN) — A 37-year-old Christian is languishing in a Sialkot jail after police broke his backbone because his father was preaching Christ, according to a local advocacy group.Arshad Masih had been in a hospital – chained to his bed on false robbery charges – ....

Muslims Attack Pakistani Pastor’s Home, Relatives

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, June 12 (CDN) — In a growing culture of violence here, a traffic incident in Punjab Province this month led to Muslim assailants later mounting an attack on the home of a Christian pastor they have increasingly resented for his evangelism and justice ministries. ....

Pakistani Muslim Forces 12-year-old Girl to Convert, Marry Him

Published in 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan, June 4 (CDN) — The Christian mother of a 12-year-old girl in Punjab Province who was kidnapped, coerced into converting to Islam and forcibly married to a 37-year-old Muslim hopes to recover her daughter at a court hearing next week. The reaction of ....

Islamic Radicals Storm Pakistani ‘Blasphemy’ Hearing

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, May 29 (CDN) — Radical Pakistani Muslims in a town outside of Lahore this month overran a courtroom in hopes of swaying a judge in a “blasphemy” case against a Christian couple, and a member of the prosecution later threatened to kill the wife. Some 50 molvis ....

Pastors in Pakistan Arrested for Use of Loudspeakers

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, May 27 (CDN) — Nine pastors from two neighboring villages in Pakistan could face prison time for using loudspeakers to broadcast prayers and sermons from their churches on Easter Sunday. Martinpur and Youngsnabad, 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Lahore, are ....

Christians Pressed as Pakistani Military Battles Taliban

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, May 13 (CDN) — Pakistani Christians in Swat Valley are caught between the Taliban and Pakistan’s military as it assaults the stronghold where sharia (Islamic law) rules. Nearly 15,000 troops have been deployed in the picturesque Swat Valley in Pakistan’s ....

Lawyer Threatens to Kill Christian Charged with ‘Blasphemy’

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, May 5 (CDN) — A Pakistani Christian charged with abetting blasphemy against Islam was denied bail for his own safety last week after an Islamist lawyer allegedly threatened his life in a court hearing. Hector Aleem, 51, remains in Adiyala Jail in Rawalpindi, near ....

Taliban-Inspired Attacks Hit Christians

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, April 26 (CDN) — As Taliban control hits pockets of Pakistan and threatens the nation’s stability, Christians worry their province could be the next to fall under Islamic law. Violence on Tuesday night and Wednesday (April 21-22) near the port city of Karachi ....

Two Christians Acquitted of ‘Blasphemy’

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, April 20 (CDN) — After more than two years in a Pakistani jail, two elderly Christian men convicted of “blasphemy” against the Quran were acquitted on Thursday (April 16) when a high court in Lahore overturned their 10-year sentence. James Masih, 67, and Buta Masih, ....

Two Christians Acquitted of ‘Blasphemy’

Published in 2009

Suspects in Rape of Christian Girl Cleared

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, April 9 (CDN) — Police have declared three Pakistani men innocent of raping a 13-year-old Christian girl despite eyewitness accounts and medical evidence indicating their guilt. At a hearing in Nankana Sahib district court on April 3, police from the Pakistani town ....

Christians Brace for Sharia in Swat Valley

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, March 26 (CDN) — Just over a month since Pakistan’s fertile Swat Valley turned into a Taliban stronghold where sharia (Islamic law) rules, the fate of the remaining Christians in the area is uncertain. Last month, in an effort to end a bloody two-year battle, the ....

Pakistani Christian Faces ‘Blasphemy’ Abetting Charge, Dangers

Published in 2009

CHICAGO, March 13 (CDN) — A Pakistani investigator has ruled out a charge against a Christian for “blaspheming Islam” but retained another for abetting blasphemy, and advocates worry the stigma of the charges could make him a target for local Islamists. Hector Aleem, 51, ....

Indian Pastor Shot in Bomb Attack on Church

Published in 2009

NEW DELHI, March 10 (CDN) — In an effort to stop conversions to Christianity in the eastern state of Bihar, a 25-year-old ailing man on Sunday (March 8) exploded a crude bomb in a church and shot the pastor. Police Inspector Hari Krishna Mandal told Compass that the attacker, ....

One Pakistani Woman Dead in Attack on Christians

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, March 9 (CDN) — Gun and club attacks on a Presbyterian church and neighboring homes in the predominantly Christian area of a village in Pakistan last week killed one woman and left 16 people wounded.Seeking revenge for a robbery complaint that a Christian filed ....

Charges Filed Against Kidnappers of Young Sisters

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, February 27 (CDN) — After months of legal deadlock, lawyers in Pakistan said they have new hope they can restore to her family a 13-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim. Saba Masih might be returned to her family, the lawyers ....

Christian Charged with ‘Blasphemy’ for Text Message

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, February 5 (CDN) — More than 100 protestors last week surrounded a Pakistani courthouse and chanted death threats against a Punjabi Christian said to be framed for sending a “blasphemous” text message on his cell phone. Rawalpindi police arrested Hector Aleem, 51, on ....

Christians Acquitted in 'Blasphemy' Case

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, January 23 (CDN) — Five Christians charged with “blasphemy” against Islam during April 2007 religious holidays were released on Monday (Jan. 19) after reconciliation meetings between Christian and Islamic leaders – the first verdict to have resulted from such efforts ....

Sisters Abducted, Forced to Convert to Islam

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, January 19 (CDN) — The ordeal of two teenage Christian sisters in Pakistan is over after Muslims allegedly abducted and raped them and forced them to convert to Islam, but they fear a future of societal rejection. Parvisha Masih, 18, and Sanam Masih, 14, said three ....