Pakistan

Arif Gill said he lost hope of finding his 15-year-old daughter – abducted by a 60-year-old Muslim who forcibly married her and converted her to Islam – until police in Pakistan finally registered a case after nearly two months.

A Muslim landowner in Pakistan on Monday (Feb. 6) beat a Catholic farm laborer to death, claiming he had stolen oranges from his orchard, the victim’s family said.

A Muslim in Karachi, Pakistan, on Wednesday (February 1) threw acid on a 19-year-old Christian woman for refusing his pressure to enter into a relationship and convert to Islam, sources said.

At least 59 people were killed and some 170 were injured when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb inside a crowded mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Monday. Twenty-seven police officers were among those killed.

Pakistan’s lower house of parliament has passed legislation to make the country’s blasphemy laws stricter even as their blatant misuse again came to light in a threat to falsely charge a Christian woman.

His voice shaky, Saleem Masih said his family has been living in fear since Nov. 29, when his son was arrested on false accusations of blasphemy – which can carry the death penalty in Pakistan.

Two Christians accused of blasphemy, including one who has spent four years in jail, have obtained bail from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, sources said.

A two-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday granted bail to a Christian in a blasphemy case, with one of the justices expressing concern over blatant misuse of the law, the attorney of the accused said.

Last week, a judge in Pakistan denied a Christian couple custody of their 12-year-old daughter, who was kidnapped and forced to convert and marry.