Beaten Pakistani Christian Activist Dead At 37

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) – Pakistani Christian human rights activist Samuel Inayat, who was in urgent need of a kidney transplant after Muslim extremists beat him, has died, his family told Worthy News on Saturday.

Pastor Asif Arthur, a close relative of Inayat, said the 37-year-old activist passed away September 5 at a secret location in Pakistan’s Punjab province, leaving behind a wife and three children and his elderly mother-in-law.

Inayat played a crucial role in supporting persecuted Christians in the Muslim-majority nation. He had arranged shelter for Imran Ghafur Masih, a Christian man who innocently spent 11 years in a Pakistani prison for “blasphemy” against Islam.

Masih and family members were forced into hiding after his acquittal and release amid fears Muslim extremists could kill them, added Pastor Arthur of the U.S.-based Candlelight Christian Fellowship Church.

“Samuel Inayat later helped them to escape to Thailand,” recalled Arthur, who was also involved in the operation.

The plan was that Inayat and his family would also fly to Thailand following death threats, but authorities and Muslim extremists prevented this, Arthur told Worthy News.

STOPPED AT AIRPORT

In late October 2022, “the management of Lahore Airport did not allow them to board the plane,” the pastor recalled in an interview with Worthy News.

“When Samuel Inayat and his family traveled home from the airport, Muslim extremists stopped his car. They kidnapped him and took him to another place in Lahore,” Pastor Arthur said.

“After beating him for three days, they threw him on the side of a road. A rickshaw driver of the same area who knew him was passing by saw him and rushed him to hospital.”

He added that “Inayat was suffering from diabetics and high blood pressure. “

However, “the three days of beatings worsened his already bad situation. Following the mistreatment, he needed a new kidney,” Arthur stressed.

Soon after, Christians asked for donations through the charity website gofundme.com. “Samuel Inayat is in urgent need of a kidney transplant due to renal failure caused by diabetes,” said Carol Loeffler, the organizer of the GoFundMe action.

For security reasons, he and others involved in raising funds did not mention the role the beatings played in the worsening of Inayat’s already precarious health situation, Worthy News learned.

PETITIONING FOR PRAYERS

While money arrived, “We would ask for your prayers for Samuel Inayat (Sammy to his family) as we are only halfway to our goal [of $15,000], and he continues to have dialysis twice a week,” wrote Loeffler on July 13 this year.

Eventually, the hospital was unable to save his life after Loeffler said he was unable to walk “because his feet are too swollen, requiring blood transfusions.”

Pastor Arthur said he was sad that “we could not find kidney donors in time to save his life.” The beatings and eventual passing of the activist underscored broader concerns about devoted Christians in Pakistan, Arthur explained.

He said those supporting Masih with his release in late 2020 and their families face death threats across Pakistan.

Additionally, an increasing number of Christians have been attacked or detained on blasphemy charges against Islam in the Muslim-majority nation, where scores of Christian homes and churches were torched and vandalized in recent weeks.

The pastor said he hopes a more secure country will offer them asylum.

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