Christian girl, 12, ‘kidnapped, chained up and forced to convert to Islam’

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Three men allegedly kidnapped a 12-year-old Christian girl and chained her up in a cattle pen – but police shockingly claimed she chose to marry one of her abductors.

Farah Shaheen, now 13, was taken from the eastern Pakistani city of Faisalabad in June and wasn’t rescued by police until December.

She spent months in the garden of a 29-year-old Muslim man and was subjected to horrifying abuse, her family claim.

Her dad Asif Masih told the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic charity, that she was chained up and forced to work all day “as a slave”.

Mr Masih said she was forced to marry her kidnapper and convert to Islam, adding: "She was sexually assaulted by her abductor and raped multiple times by [his] landlords".

In photographs seen by The Times, deep cuts were visible on her ankles.

However, the investigating police officer Musaddiq Riaz told the newspaper: “Ms Shaheen confessed before a magistrate…that she married…of her own will and wants to live with him.”

He also claimed that a police report suggested the girl was aged 16 or 17.

Farah’s dad has called it an “utter fabrication” and an “outright lie”, saying authorities had ignored his abduction reports for months.

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Mr Masih added: “Farah needs psychological help. She was already vulnerable as she lost her mother – my wife – five years ago.

“Farah has serious symptoms of mental distress…she speaks in broken sentences and her powers of reason and decision making are seriously impaired."

Government agencies are now expected to pursue the case after police dropped the investigation.

Back in October, a 13-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped by a 44-year-old Muslim man in Pakistan who forced her to convert to Islam and marry him .

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Arzoo Raja was reportedly taken from her home in Karachi on October 13, and two days later her “husband” Ali Azhar produced a marriage certificate saying she was 18 and had converted to his religion.

A court later ruled that she should remain a government shelter home until she turns 18.

On November 9, the High Court in the province of Sindh declared that Arzoo was a minor and that her marriage to Azhar violated the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, according to NHO International Christian Concern.

Azhar was released on bail earlier this month.

  • Islam
  • Crime

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