Scores of Christians facing trial over the lynching of two suspected terrorists after two church bombings in 2015 are being forced to convert to Islam in return for their acquittal, activists said. Nearly 60 Christians are on trial for the mob killing of two men mistaken for militants shortly after two Taliban bombers attacked worshipers at the Roman Catholic Church and Christ Church in Youhanabad in Lahore on March 15, 2015.
The bombings resulted in death of 15 people while 72 others were wounded. Angry protesters managed to grab two suspects from police, beat and lynch them to death. They were later identi-fied as passers-by.
More than 100 Christians were rounded up in the wake of the incident and put on trial. Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), an inter-denominational organisation working for persecuted Christians in the country, said that Prose-cutor Syed Anees Shah offered Christians acquittal if they agreed to convert to Islam.
“How can we expect justice when people sitting in courts are inwardly biased? We demand that the government takes action against the public prosecutor,” Sohail Habel, a member of CLAAS told ucanews.com.
“In my 13 years of human rights activism, I have seen many such offers made to non-Muslim prisoners,” he said, adding that a CLAAS legal team was support-ing the victims and trying to dissuade them from capitulating.
Pakistan prosecutor removed from Christian case
A Pakistani prosecutor who tried to push Christians into converting to Islam in exchange for an acquittal in a lynching trial has been removed from the case, activists said. Pakistani media reported that Deputy District Public Prosecutor Syed Anees Shah told 42 Christian prisoners before an anti-terrorism court in Lahore that he could “guarantee their acquittal” if they converted to Islam.
