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Pakistani Christian Man Tortured for Refusing to Convert to Islam

  • Amanda Casanova

    Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and…

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  • Updated Feb 04, 2016

A Pakistani Christian man refused to convert to Islam after Muslims reportedly psychologically tortured him.

Patras Hanif, who has five children, said he even considered suicide rather than converting, according to The Christian Post.

"They very often called me 'kafir', which means unfaithful, and they threatened me that they would resort to false accusations of blasphemy if I refused to convert to Islam," Hanif said.

Hanif’s lawyer, Sardar Mustaq Gill, said the case is one of many in Pakistan.

"Extremism, hatred, motivated only by a different faith, preconceived hostility: this is the suffering Christians in Pakistan go through. Islamic extremist groups would like to eliminate Christianity and other religions," Gill said.

"This extremism is the cause of the exodus of religious minorities in Pakistan. Political leaders and Muslim religious leaders should publicly discourage these attitudes and start a more ambitious program of religious harmony, recalling that all citizens have equal rights and dignity.”

In another case of violence against Christians, police beat a Christian man to death when he would not confess to a crime he didn’t commit.

In January, a Christian father in Sialkot Tehsil was shot to death. Authorities say the killing is under investigation, but is considered a “terrorist attack.”

Also in January, a 17-year-old Christian teenager was killed when she refused the sexual advances of a Muslim man in Lahore. The man drove a car into the girl and her friends.

Publication date: February 4, 2016