LAHORE, Pakistan — A 40-year-old Christian widow was abducted, raped by a gang and then killed, reportedly for refusing to convert to Islam and marry one of the assailants.
Morning Star News, quoting the woman’s brother, reports that Shazia Imran’s throat was slashed and her body doused with acid. Forensics determined she also had suffered a gang rape.
Police arrested the prime suspect — Noman Gujjar — who later confessed to the June murder.
Imran’s brother said three others also are suspected in the attack.
Imran was the mother of three children – ages 16, 7 and 6. Her brother said Gujjar is threatening the family to withdraw the accusation, a situation that has caused Imran’s family to go into hiding.
“… Three days before her abduction, she told [another relative] that Gujjar had threatened to kill her if she did not surrender to his demand” to convert to Islam and marry him, according to Imran’s brother.
Imran’s husband died 18 months ago in what police have classified as an accident, the brother told Morning Star.
Pakistan is No. 7 on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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