Pakistani Christian Father Tortured for Refusing to Deny Christ

The son of a Pakistani Christian servant who was tortured by police in an attempt to get him to confess to stealing from his Muslim employer has revealed his horrifying eyewitness testimony of the brutal beating that his father endured earlier this month that ultimately led to his father's death.

On Jan. 14, the slain body of 47-year-old Liaqat Masih was handed over by authorities to his family in the town of Gujranwala in the Punjab province. Masih and his son were arrested by local police officers based on the accusation of theft from the home of his Muslim employer, Mohammad Raza Hameed, whom employed Masih as his driver for over 15 years.

Hameed and his father S.A. Hameed are wealthy Muslim businessmen and leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf political party in the community. When Hameed and his family went out of town, their home got robbed and Hameed notified the police about the robbery and initially lodged a complaint against unknown perpetrators.

According to the Pakistani Christian Post, Hameed later accused his own servant of stealing from him and then pressured police to arrest and force a confession out of Masih and his son, Khurram.

As the Masih family is now being legally represented by the European Center for Law and Justice's Pakistani affiliate, the Organization for Legal Aid (OLA), Khurram provided in-depth detail about how the local police officers barbarically tortured him and his father as they refused to confess to a crime they did not commit.

After police officers questioned Khurram and he refused to confess, Khurram recalled that four police officers forced him to strip naked, then tied him up and then beat him. When Khurram again refused to confess to the crime, he said the officers brought in his father and also ordered his father to take off his clothes.

The officers then made Liaqat stand on a chair so they could tie his hands behind his back and hang him from the ceiling, which caused Liaqat's shoulders to become dislocated.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/pakistani-police-tortured-naked-hanging-christian-man-to-death-by-beating-him-with-logs-son-recounts-156569/#bB7YbQWKrh2A5Twu.99

A Pakistani man refuses to renouce Christ despite being tortured by Muslim co-workers who tried to convert him to Islam.

Patras Hanif, a construction worker and father of five, was targeted because of his Christian faith. His co-workers tried to pressure him into converting, even threatening false blasphemy charges.

"They very often called me 'kafir', which means unfaithful, and they threatened me that they would resort to false accusations of blasphemy if I refused to convert to Islam," Hanif told Fides News Agency. "A blasphemy charge in Pakistan is very serious and usually results in the death penalty."

Hanif refused to renounce his faith and his relentless abuse led him to turn to Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, national director of Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD). The organizaion defends the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan.

Gill, a seasoned defender of persecuted Pakistani Christians, told theChristian Post that Islamic etxremism is driving non-Muslims out of Pakistan.

"This extremism is the cause of the exodus of religous minorities in Pakistan. Political leaders and Muslim religious leaders should publicly discourage these attitudes and start a more ambitious program of religious harmony, recalling that all citizens have equal rights and dignity," Gill said.

Gill also said that Hanif's experience is not uncommon.

"This is the suffering Christians in Pakistan go through," he said. "Islamic exremist groups would like to eliminate Christianity and other religions."

Hanif's case follows several other cases of jihadi attacks against Pakistan's Christians. Last week a Pakistani Christian's son recalled the horrific death of his father at the hands of Pakistani policemen.

The Christian man died while authorities tortured him in an effort to get him to confess to a crime against a Muslim - a crime he did not commit.

A Christian father was targeted and shot in the streets of Sialkot Tehsil in Punjab in January. His death led to Christians protesting in the streets against their relentless and violent persecution.

Christian men and fathers are not the only ones being targeted in these attacks, Christian women have also faced violence. In January a teenage Christian girl was murdered after being sexually harrassed by a group of Muslim men in Lahore, Defense Colony.

Pakistan is 6th on Open Door's World Watch List with many cases of extreme persecution against the minority Christian population.