Prisoners from minority backgrounds, particularly Christians, face systemic bias in Pakistani jails and are subjected to abuse by prison staff and Muslim inmates, a new study shows.
Two years after Islamist attacks on Christians in the Jaranwala area in Punjab Province, Pakistan, hopes for justice are dimming amid the sabotaging of prosecution efforts, advocates said.
Amnesty International this week called for the "quashing" of the convictions of 11 Christians in Libya sentenced to prison under charges that included “insulting Islam.”
On the eve of Pakistan’s annual National Minorities Day, a human rights advocate on Sunday (Aug. 10) called on parliament to address an alarming increase in false blasphemy allegations.
In a rare development, a high court in Pakistan last month ordered the government to issue a new identity card reflecting a woman's conversion from Islam to Christianity, her attorney said.
Fulani herdsmen on Monday morning (Aug. 4) killed a Christian woman in a village in Plateau state, Nigeria, the latest of 17 Christians slain in the area since July 15, sources said.
The Muslim employer of a Christian boy forcibly converted him to Islam and is keeping him in his illegal custody, the family’s attorney said.
Residents in Plateau state, Nigeria on Friday (July 25) held a funeral procession for 27 Christians massacred in one village 10 days earlier despite warning authorities of the impending danger, sources said.
Efforts to curb abuse of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws suffered a major setback on Thursday (July 24) when judges suspended a prior court order to form a commission to investigate misuse of the harsh laws, sources said.
Relatives of a Muslim in Pakistan who raped a 14-year-old Christian girl are threatening her family to compel them to drop charges, sources said.
Police in Pakistan on Saturday (July 19) arrested and charged a 60-year-old Catholic with blasphemy after he accused a Muslim shopkeeper of overcharging, sources said. Amir Peter of Nishat Colony in Lahore, capital of Punjab Province, was charged under Section 295-C of the country’s controversial blasphemy laws pertaining to disrespect of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad – punishable with death – on the complaint of Sanor Ali.
As terrorism-scarred Christians in Nigeria await help from the government and the international community, within and outside of the country they prayed for God’s intervention this month.
