Christian executed in Pakistan after confession under torture |
| Mar 13 2008 |
| Postings >> Pakistan |
A Christian has been executed by hanging in Pakistan. He is widely believed to be innocent and to have been made a scapegoat for a murder he did not commit. He only confessed to the crime after prolonged severe torture.
Zahid Masih, 27, was executed on March 12 at around 5am by a military court. He was sentenced for the sexual abuse and murder of a nine-year-old boy.
Release International’s partner Sharing Life Ministries Pakistan is convinced of his innocence, as is human rights organisation Asian Human Rights Commission.
Zahid Masih, a cleaner at an army base in Punjab, claimed military personnel had killed the child and, as a lowly sanitary worker and a Christian, he had been made a scapegoat.
Jail official Mohammed Ishtiq described his last hours. He said: ‘Zahid kept praying all night long. His fellow prisoners were weeping and downhearted.’
Moments before Zahid was hanged he left a message to his fiancée: ‘Please forgive me as I couldn’t get married to you.’ And he called on his younger brother to take care of their mother.
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) say of Masih: ‘He was innocent of this crime. At the time of the murder of the young boy he was doing another job in another [area].’ AHRC describe the trial as ‘unfair’ as Zahid had no legal representation, and say ‘the confession [was] obtained by torture.’
They claim he was interrogated for 28 days and ‘tortured severely to confess the murder’.
Christians gathered outside the jail to protest the hanging and there were angry scenes when officials announced his death. His mother, Nasreen Bibi, passed out when she saw the dead body of her son.
She later said: ‘We have lost our son. We couldn’t fight the corrupt system of justice in Pakistan. Christians are treated as slaves and despised as worms. My son was hanged as a sacrificial animal and the actual culprits have been saved.’
She said Christians were often implicated on false charges by those opposed to their faith. She added: ‘Today I lost my innocent son. Tomorrow the same thing can happen to another Christian mother.'
Pastor Asif Jawaid, a spokesman for Release International’s partner in Pakistan, said: ‘An innocent Christian has been hanged to death. The judiciary always closes their eyes when a Christian comes to court. Christians are undergoing such discrimination from the authorities and local Muslims. We pray that God may soften their stubborn hearts.’
Release International, which serves the persecuted Church, is appalled by the hanging. CEO Andy Dipper says: ‘Once again this illustrates the plight of the Christian minority in Pakistan. Regarded as second-class citizens by the law, for too long they have been falsely accused and treated as a scapegoats. Please pray that Pakistan’s minorities would be given the equal rights and equal respect they deserve. And pray for Zahid’s family – especially his mother Nasreen Bibi at this time.’
Asian Human Rights Commission says there are currently 7,400 convicts awaiting execution in Pakistan. The country is close to the top of the list of nations that execute the most prisoners.
Through its international network of missions Release International works to support persecuted Christians in some 30 nations. Release is supporting Christians imprisoned for their faith and their families. It supports church workers, pastors and their families, and provides training, Bibles, Christian literature and broadcasts.
ENDS
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
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Release International is a member of the UK organisations Global Connections, the Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network.
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