March 2017 Persecution Magazine (3 of 5)

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MARCH 2017
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Victory
in the Midst of Persecution
A recent judgment in favor of two Christians accused of
blasphemy in Pakistan provides a small, yet complicated,
ray of hope for Pakistan’s Christian community.
By William Stark
“
At 6:00 a.m. I heard my
brother and wife crying
out as they were dragged
out of their house near
the brick kiln by their
hair,” Iqbal Masih told
International Christian
Concern (ICC). “In
about 15 or 20 minutes,
a mob of thousands had
gathered at the brick kiln, shouting that they wanted
to kill my brother and his wife.”
In November 2014, Pakistan’s Christian community
witnessed one of the most brutal instances of persecution
in recent memory at a brick kiln located in
Kot Radha Kishan. The violence that came to shock
both the nation of Pakistan and the international community
was, as is often the case, sparked by the country’s
notorious blasphemy laws and is often referred
to as the Kot Radha Kishan case or incident.
Motivating this murderous mob was the rumored
accusation that Shehzad Masih (Iqbal’s younger
brother) and his wife burned pages of the Quran,
an act widely considered blasphemous in Pakistan.
Unfortunately, for Shehzad and his wife, extrajudicial
killings of those accused of blasphemy are all too
common. In fact, more than 60 individuals have been
murdered after being accused of blasphemy since the
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Kot Radha Kishan has become
infamous in Pakistan as the scene of
one of the country’s most brutal and
shocking instances of persecution
— a couple beaten and burned alive
at the city’s brick kiln by a mob of
thousands.
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A Small, Complicated Victory
In rare form, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan
convicted 13 men for the brick kiln murders two
years after the incident. Five were sentenced to
death for their role in inciting a mob via mosque
loudspeakers.
laws were added to the country’s penal code.
“They stoned Shehzad and his wife, then
they broke their legs and beat them until they
were unconscious,” Masih told ICC. “The
mob put them over holes on top of the brick
kiln where the flames were coming out. They
were so badly beaten that they were unable to
get away from the flames.”
Both Pakistan and the international community
were shocked by these brutal murders and
many of those involved, especially the local
religious clerics who had stoked the mob’s
rage using sound systems at local mosques,
were quickly arrested.
Following the arrests, many Christians,
including members of the victims’ family, did
not believe justice would be done in this case
because of the religious identity of the victims
and the rumored blasphemy accusation. Often,
cases against individuals or groups accused
of attacking religious minorities drag on at
a glacial pace. In the meantime, the accused
perpetrators are released on bail and allowed
to harass the religious minorities bringing the
charges until they are dropped.
This unfortunate truth is exemplified in
the results of the case against those accused
of burning down Joseph Colony, a Christian
neighborhood in Lahore. Despite a wealth of
photo and video evidence showing individuals
engaged in the attack and destruction of Joseph
Colony, many of the accused have been either
acquitted or released on bail as the trial drags
on. This stands in stark contrast to the speedy
conviction and death sentence handed down
to the Christian individual whose blasphemy
accusation initially set off the riot.
Fortunately, in the case of the brick kiln
murders, the family’s doubts in Pakistan’s justice
system were proven wrong. On November
23, 2016, over two years after the murders,
an anti-terrorism court officially sentenced
13 men connected with the violence. Of
those, five were sentenced to death, including
Mehdi Khan, Riaz Kambo, Irfan Shakoor,
Muhammad Hanif, and Hafiz Ishtiaq, a local
prayer leader. The harsh punishments were
given to these five individuals specifically
for their hand in making announcements over
mosque loudspeakers that incited the mob that
attacked and killed the Christian couple.
According to the Express Tribune, the convictions
handed down in November represented
the first time a case of such nature has been
decided in the favor of a religious minority in
Pakistan, whether it be a Christian, Hindu, or
Ahmadi.
“Civil society has been very consistent
on monitoring the developments of the Kot
Radha Kishan incident and the resulting judgment
that has come,” Peter Jacob, Executive
Director at the Center for Social Justice told
ICC. “There wasn’t a big response to the judgment
because it involved death sentences for
five people, but it was generally welcome that
justice in some form had been done.”
When asked how this case was decided in
favor of religious minorities, Jacob credited
both Pakistan’s Supreme Court and vigilant
civil society.
“This judgment has come after the intervention
made at the Supreme Court level. The
court at district level was able to deliver this
judgment because there was oversight by the
Supreme Court and civil society did not stop
monitoring.”
Despite the eventual victory the Kot Radha
Kishan judgment represents, these sort of
victories are often complicated for Pakistan’s
Christian community. Months after the murder
of Shehzad and his wife, a branch of the
Pakistani Taliban bombed two churches in
Youhanabad, a Christian-majority neighborhood
in Lahore. Following these March 2015
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ombings, Christians poured
into the streets in protest,
enraged by the bloody scenes
at their churches.
In the midst of the protests,
two Muslims rumored
to be involved in the church
bombings were lynched and
killed by the Christians. In the
weeks that followed, police
arrested over 100 Christians
from Youhanabad, often for
little more than their identity
as Christians from the
neighborhood. Following
the arrests, reports of torture
by police seeking to hone
in on the identities of those
involved in the lynching were
common.
The Kot Radha Kishan
judgment has spread fear
among many of the Christian
families of those accused of
the Youhanabad lynching
because they feel that their
loved ones will also be sentenced
to death, regardless
of the evidence, in a sort of
tit-for-tat judicial maneuver
to satisfy both Pakistan’s
Muslim and Christian communities.
“We are worried for our
children when we
think and listen about
the convictions in the
Kot Radha Kishan
case,” Sugran Bibi,
mother of one of the
accused, told ICC.
“My son was not
present at the lynching,”
Bibi continued.
“The police arrested
him from home
seven months after
the incident. Almost
two years have
passed and we don’t
see any hope of our child
returning home.”
Regardless of the implications
the Kot Radha
Kishan judgment has for
the Christians accused of
the Youhanabad lynching,
it should still be marked
as a victory for Pakistani
Christians.
For Christians living in
Pakistan, change comes
slowly and is often complicated.
Consistently ranked
among the most persecuted
Christians in the world,
officially ranked fourth on
Open Door’s World Watch
“We are worried
for our children
when we think
... about the
convictions in the
Kot Radha Kishan
case.”
– MOTHER OF IMPRISONED SON
List, the lives of Pakistani
Christians are widely
defined by the discrimination
and injustice they
endure because of their faith.
Amidst the intense persecution
and discrimination of
Christians in Pakistan, a ray
of hope came out of one of
Pakistan’s most hot-button
issues, the country’s blasphemy
laws. It is small and
complicated victories like
this that will eventually start
to turn the tide for Pakistan’s
Christians and may someday
promise a brighter and
freer future.
Joseph Colony, a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, Pakistan, that was
burned to the ground, stands as a stark reminder of the continued injustice
and inequity of the country’s blasphemy laws. In January, a Pakistani court
acquitted over 100 suspects charged with perpetrating this act on “insufficient
evidence,” despite ample photographs and video footage of the event.
Asia Bibi
In June 2009, Asia Bibi was
accused by Muslim coworkers of
blaspheming against the prophet
Muhammad. As is often the case,
this false accusation was made
against Asia to settle a personal
score following a dispute between
Asia and her coworkers over the
use of a watering bowl.
Although false, the blasphemy
accusation came to radically
change both Asia’s life as an individual
and Pakistan as a nation.
In 2010, Asia was formally sentenced
to death by the Session’s
Court in District Nankana, Punjab.
In October 2014, the Lahore High
Court confirmed Asia’s death sentence.
In July 2015, Pakistan’s
Supreme Court decided to review
Asia’s death sentence, but then
indefinitely adjourned on October
13, 2016, after one of the justices
recused himself from the case.
Widely considered the most
famous case of blasphemy, Asia’s
case has seen many dramatic
moments including the assassination
of two major government
officials advocating on behalf of
Asia. It remains to be seen what
Pakistan’s Supreme Court will do
with Asia’s case, but there is hope
that one day she will be released.
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5

Home at Last
ICC completes construction of homes for 10
displaced Iraqi Christian families living in
tents for two years.
One of the families’ tents
that they lived in for two
years after fleeing ISIS
violence.
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Top Left: One of the tents that
families lived in for two years
after fleeing ISIS violence.
Bottom Left: A family that ICC
has followed for the past year
shows appreciation for their new
home - a permanent structure on a
church’s property.
Below: After two years of living
in tents on a church’s property,
Christian families began moving
into the newly constructed
homes just before Christmas and
the first snow.
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Kot Radha Kishan has become
infamous in Pakistan as the scene of
one of the country’s most brutal and
shocking instances of persecution
— a couple beaten and burned alive
at the city’s brick kiln by a mob of
thousands.
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