According to the Christian Telegraph, a Christian Pakistani man and his Christian wife who used to be Muslim have been granted asylum in the UK. Lawyers for the couple argued their case before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in the UK, urging the Tribunal to allow the couple, who were persecuted in Pakistan, to remain in the UK because their lives would be in danger if they returned to their native homeland.
Pakistan is neutral regarding religious conversions, but converting to Christianity places those Christians under the blasphemy laws which allow for converts to be beaten or murdered. The husband and wife tried unsuccessfully several times to flee Pakistan, where the woman’s family persecuted them. They were attacked and held captive in the house of the woman’s uncle for months. During their captivity the uncle repeatedly beat them, tried to force them to deny the Christian faith, and brought in a Muslim cleric to forcibly indoctrinate them. Eventually, they made it out of Pakistan by receiving a visa to travel to the UK and applied for asylum when they arrived. When UK’s Border Agency denied them asylum, they appealed the decision.
The couple were represented by the European Centre for Law & Justice (ECLJ), the European arm of the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ). Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ is quoted as saying, “At a time when so many Christian converts face real persecution-including the threat of death – it’s encouraging that this couple can now stay in the U.K. We’re delighted we were able to provide assistance in this very important case.”
Hopefully, the couple will be safe in the UK. In recent decades the Muslim population there has skyrocketed and the UK government has made many concessions to Muslim clerics like allowing sharia courts to be established. If someone in Pakistan issued a fatwa against the couple (God forbid), it would’nt be difficult for a Muslim in the UK to carry it out. I pray that the Lord will be a hedge of protection around them.
–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–
September 26, 2009 at 7:47 am |
Dear sir i want to study holy bible in uk. help me to study holy bible…..because many muslims ask questions about bible….your brother irfan maseeh
September 26, 2009 at 10:37 pm |
irfan,
there are a whole lot of online bible studies you can look at to help you if you can’t find anyone in your area who is a genuine believer in Jesus Christ to study the bible with. you can try these three websites
http://www.insight.org
http://www.backtothebible.org
http://www.biblestudy.org
since i’m not in the uk, if you have questions that you need answers to that you can’t find at these websites, you can email the questions to me by submitting a comment at this blog.