Pakistan: Muslim Seminarians Jailed for Murder of Christian Youth
Mar 14 2006
Postings >> Pakistan

Two Muslim seminarians from Punjab have been jailed for 25 years for their part in the murder of a Christian youth whom they tried to convert to Islam.

Ghulam Rasool and Mohammed Tayyab were found guilty of the murder of 19-year-old Javed Anjum, in a courtroom in Toba Tek Singh packed with students from their madrassa (Islamic school). The pair were convicted of abducting and torturing Javed at the Jamia Hassan Bin Murtaza madrassa after the teenager stopped there for a drink of water in April 2004. Javed died of his injuries in Faisalabad, several weeks after his abduction.

Prosecution lawyer Khalil Tahir Sindhu is reportedly intending to appeal to the provincial high court to have the sentence raised to the death penalty.

A third suspect, Umar Hayat, who has been at large since the case began in May 2004, was finally detained by police last December. He will be tried separately.

Meanwhile, reprisal attacks against Christians following the publication of 'blasphemous' cartoons of Mohammed have continued. This has prompted church leaders to announce a plan to establish 'crisis centres' across Pakistan to prevent local inter-religious rows escalating into wider violence.

• Thank God that justice has been done on behalf of Javed Anjum and his family. Ask God to protect Pervez Masih and his lawyer from further threats and harassment.
• Pray that church leaders' plans to set up crisis centres across Pakistan would pave the way for a move of greater tolerance between Muslims and religious minorities.