Pakistani Christian Leader Calls Blasphemy Laws ‘A License to Kill’ After Couple Is Beaten, Burned
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have become a “license to kill Christians,” a Christian leader in the country said after a Muslim mob — enraged by claims that a Qur’an had been desecrated — beat and burnt a pregnant mother and her husband to death Tuesday amid cries of “Allah hu Akbar” and “kill infidel Christians.”
The slaying of the couple, brick kiln laborers named as Shahzad and Shama, was the latest in a long series of atrocities carried out by zealous Muslims, often targeting Christians and other minorities accused of blasphemy.
Blasphemy is a capital offense in the world’s second biggest Islamic country – a country which the U.S. State Department has for the past 12 years refused to blacklist for egregious persecution under U.S. religious freedom laws, despite recommendations by a statutory watchdog.
Incited by announcements over mosque loudspeakers in nearby villages, hundreds of Muslims dragged Shahzad and Shama out of a room where they were being held against their will, beat them with clubs, and then burnt them alive in a brick kiln, according to eyewitness accounts given to the Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD), a non-profit advocacy group.