Islamists in Pakistan Kill Two Christians At Court House
Washington, D.C. (July 19, 2010)–International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Islamists killed two Christians accused of blasphemy as they left court in Faisalabad, Pakistan today at 2 PM local time.
The police were transporting the Christians from the court to jail when masked Islamists brutally shot them to death. A policeman accompanying the Christians was also seriously wounded by the attackers. The attackers have escaped.
Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajid Emmanuel were arrested on July 2 after Muslims accused of them of writing a pamphlet with blasphemous remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
The charges were based on hand-written and photo-copied pamphlets with remarks about the prophet Muhammad that the Muslims consider offensive. Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel’s names and phone numbers were printed on the pamphlets.
Nazir Bhatti, editor of the Pakistan Christian Post, told ICC that during today’s court hearing the police expert witnesses indicated that the handwriting on the pamphlets doesn’t match Rashid or Sajid’s hand writing.
“We condemn the killing of the two Christians and we appeal to the Pakistani president to repeal the blasphemy law by executive order to stop the killings of Christians in Pakistan,” said Nazir Bhatti.
Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia , said “It’s outrageous that the Islamists managed to kill the Christians while they were under police custody. This is another indication of the value and the status of Christians within Pakistan . We call upon the international community to hold Pakistan responsible for its mistreatment of Christian minorities.”
