Christian couple 'burned to death
by Pakistani mob had legs broken to stop them fleeing and wife was wrapped in
cotton so she'd burn faster'
·
Shama Bibi, 24, and Sajjad
Maseeh, 27, were killed for alleged blasphemy
·
Bibi was wearing clothes that
would not burn so mob wrapped her in cotton
·
Christian couple were locked in
factory after boss thought they'd flee debts
·
A mob then beat them and threw
them onto a brick kiln, witnesses said
·
Relatives claim the couple were
working in indentured servitude
·
Killing latest example of mob
violence against minorities in Muslim Pakistan
·
Koran was desecrated day before
the attack and mob blamed the couple
·
Police boosted security in
Christian neighbourhoods after attack
A pregnant Pakistani woman killed alongside her husband for
alleged blasphemy was wrapped in cotton so she would set alight faster,
relatives who witnessed the horrific attack revealed.
Shama Bibi, 24, and her husband
Sajjad Maseeh, 27, also had their legs broken so they could not flee the mob
that locked them inside a brick-making factory before their murder.
The couple were surrounded by
crowd of at least 1,200 and thrown on top of a brick kiln where they were
burned alive, witnesses said.
Scroll down for video
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A photo of the Christian couple
Shama Bibi (left) and Shehzad Masih, who were murdered in Pakistan after a mob
accused them of desecrating a copy of the Koran
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Relatives of a Christian couple
who were burnt alive for alleged blasphemy cry at their house in Kot Radha
Kishan, near Kasur, Pakistan
'They picked them up by their
arms and legs and held them over the brick furnace until their clothes caught
fire,' family spokesman Javed Maseeh told NBC News. 'And then
they threw them inside the furnace.'
He said Bibi, a mother of
four who was four months pregnant, was wearing clothing that did not initially
catch fire, so the mob removed her from over the kiln and wrapped her up in
cotton to make sure the the material would burn faster.
The killings were sparked by the mob's belief the couple had
desecrated a copy of the Koran. By the time the attack was over, only charred
bones and the couple's discarded shoes remained.
'The bones are still being
found,' Javed Maseeh told NBC. 'Friends keep on collecting them and bringing
them to us in batches of two or three. We will bury these bones when we have
enough for the bodies. But we will not find all of them, I'm sure.'
The gruesome incident took place
yesterday in the tiny hamlet of Chak 59 near Kot Radha Kishan town, 60
kilometres southwest of Lahore.
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A man surveys the site of the
brick kiln where the Christian couple were murdered yesterday
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Police and locals pictured at the
site of their death. The couple's relatives have claimed the two were detained
by their boss before they were killed because he feared they would try and flee
their debts
The killing has sparked protests
by Christians and outrage among rights activists, while police have arrested 44
suspects.
Jawad Qamar, a local police
official, has now explained that local suspicions of blasphemy unfolded more
than a week earlier with the death of Shehzad's father, a local religious
healer.
'When he died, Shehzad's wife
went to his room and cleaned up the mess. There was a trunk in his room.
Shehzad's wife took the things that could be useful and threw the trash in
front of her house.
'The garbage collector collected
the trash the next day and told a local cleric that he had collected pages of
the Koran thrown in front of Shehzad's house from the trash.'
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Pakistani Christians lay floral
wreaths at the brick kiln where a Christian couple was burnt alive
However, Shehzad's older brother
said he and his whole family are bonded workers paying off their debts to the
brick kiln owner - a man named Mohammed Yousuf.
'We take advance money from the
owner and work for him, it has been going on for years. On November 3, the
owner had called Iqbal and detained him sensing that he might run away to save
his life,' he said tearfully.
The allegation against the
factory owner was denied by his son Khawar Yousuf.
He said: 'We don't know what has
happened, the family has been working for us for 20 years and we have never
noticed anything bad.
'It's wrong to say that my father
locked them up.'
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Members of Pakistan's Christian
community protest the couple's murder in Islamabad
Camera man Malik Abdul Aziz, who
witnessed the killing, has described first hand the brutal attack that
unfolded.
He said about 1,500
people gathered from nearby villages after being stoked up by local
clerics who announced the couple had committed blasphemy over the loudspeakers
of their mosques.
'They started beating the couple
with sticks and bricks chanting slogans of 'We will lay down our lives for the
honour of the prophet' and then tore off their clothes.
'The couple were screaming,
begging for mercy and saying they have not committed any sin.
'The mob dragged them for around
20 yards and laid them on top of the brick kiln oven and kept them there till
they were burnt,' he added.
It was not clear whether they
were already dead or burnt alive.
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Protesters in Faisalabad hold a
sign condemning the 'brutal murder' of Shama Bibi and Shahzad Masih
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Those who take part in
blasphemy-related mob violence are rarely, if ever, prosecuted. Pictured are
campaigners with a sign calling on politicians to ensure justice is done
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive
issue in the majority Muslim country, with even unproven allegations often
prompting mob violence.
Those who take part in the
violence are rarely if ever prosecuted - a fact not lost upon the relatives of
the deceased.
'I need justice but I am sure I
won't be able to get it, the clerics are too powerful,' Shehzad's brother Iqbal
said.
Tahir Ashrafi, a member of the
Council of Islamic Ideology, Pakistan's top religious body, held police
responsible for failing to act to protect the couple before the mob violence
occurred.
'This case must go to a
anti-terrorism court and the culprits must be arrested and punished, including
the mullah (who made the blasphemy accusation in mosque) if he's involved,' he
said.
Police chief Qamar stated that no
particular sectarian group or religious outfit was behind the attack.
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Pakistan minority rights
campaigners in Kasur, near Lahore, carry a mock coffin in protest
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Pakistani security officials have
been placed on high alert since the married couple were killed near Lahore.
Police have arrested 44 people for the lynching after the couple allegedly
desecrated a copy of the Koran
Pakistan's brick kiln workers are
often subject to harsh practices, with a study by the Bonded Labour Liberation
Front Pakistan estimating that 4.5 million are indentured labourers.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif constituted a three-member committee to fast track the investigation of
the killings and ordered police to beef up security at Christian neighbourhoods
in the province.
Blasphemy charges, even when they
go to court, are punishable by death in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
They are hard to fight because
the law does not define clearly what is blasphemous. Presenting the evidence
can sometimes itself be considered a fresh infringement.
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A mob accused the couple of
desecrating a copy of the Koran who then beat them and threw them into a kiln
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The Christian couple were
attacked in the town which is just 50 miles from Lahore and thrown into a kiln
Christians make up about four per
cent of Pakistan's population and tend to keep a low profile in a country where
Sunni Muslim militants frequently bomb targets they see as heretical, including
Christians, and Sufi and Shi'ite Muslims.
All of Pakistan's minorities feel
that the state fails to protect them, and even tolerates violence against them.
Last month a British man with a
history of mental health illness, sentenced to death for blasphemy earlier this
year, was shot by a prison guard in his cell.
Also in October, a Pakistani
court upheld the death penalty against a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who is
also accused of blasphemy, in a case that drew global headlines after two
prominent politicians who tried to help her were assassinated.
Mohammad Asghar, left, from
Glasgow, was shot last month in a Pakistani prison while he waited for his
execution for blasphemy, his daughter Jasmine Rana, right, wants an
investigation into her father's case
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