Christian Persecution – Asia

A court in Pakistan has acquitted a second Christian of blasphemy, just days after another believer was also cleared of similar charges.

An incident at a beauty salon in Pakistan’s largest city has sparked renewed debate about discrimination against Christians after a customer reportedly refused to be served by a Christian employee because of her faith.

A Christian brick kiln worker and father of four has been stabbed to death in Pakistan’s city of Pattoki amid concerns over the vulnerability of Christians in the Islamic nation, sources told Worthy News Tuesday.

In a “significant judgment welcomed by Pakistan’s Christian community and human rights advocates,” a court in Pakistan acquitted a blind Christian man who potentially faced the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam, a Christian advocate told Worthy News.

A Christian family and supporters have rallied in the eastern Pakistani city of Faisalabad after a 16-year-old Christian girl reportedly disappeared and was allegedly forced to marry and convert to Islam.

The grieving family of a Christian man in Pakistan demanded justice Monday after what relatives described as his mysterious disappearance and tragic death in a case that has raised concerns among human rights advocates and members of the country’s Christian minority.

Christians in northeastern Pakistan expressed grief Sunday over the killing of a young Christian man by armed Muslims who also allegedly threatened women, sources told Worthy News.

The killing of a 22-year-old Christian man in Pakistan’s Punjab province has sparked grief and renewed concerns about the safety of religious minorities, Christian leaders told Worthy News on Wednesday.

Christians in Pakistan’s industrial city of Faisalabad remained on edge Thursday after a Christian railway employee was killed and two relatives seriously injured in an alleged nighttime stabbing attack by a Muslim suspect that community leaders say has renewed concerns about minority safety in the Islamic nation.

A Christian teenager died Wednesday after he and another Christian were shot by suspected Muslim gunmen in northwestern Pakistan, sparking fear among local believers, investigators told Worthy News.

Pakistan’s hardline Islamist party and movement, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), has been accused of involvement in a massive “blasphemy business” scheme targeting Christians and other Pakistanis charged under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, despite being banned by the government.

Christians and rights campaigners in Pakistan have demanded “a transparent investigation” into the death of a Christian brick kiln worker allegedly poisoned by a Muslim resident in the country’s east, while another Christian laborer was killed in a separate case.

Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court ordered a 15-year-old Christian girl to be moved to a government shelter after allegations that she was forcibly converted to Islam and married to an older Muslim man, a Christian advocate told Worthy News.

Christian advocates have urged legislators in Pakistan’s Punjab province to approve child marriage legislation in a country where millions of girls are married as children.