A Pakistani court granted custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl to the man accused of abducting her, forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him.
A two-judge panel on March 25 upheld the marriage of Maria Shahbaz to Shehryar Ahmad, a 30-year-old Muslim, Christian Daily International-Morning Star News reported.
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The judges called her conversion to Islam valid, and said she was a “mature age” and should be given to her “husband.”
Even though her father, Shahbaz Masih, provided proof that Maria was 12 when she was kidnapped in July 2025 and, therefore, too young to marry, the court deemed the evidence “unreliable.” Instead, the judges said she looked older to them.
Recurring pattern
According to Christian Daily-Morning Star, “Human rights advocates say the case reflects a broader and recurring pattern in Pakistan, where minority girls (such as Christians) — some reportedly as young as 10 — are abducted, forced to convert and forced to marry Muslim men. Victims are frequently pressured to give statements in favor of their alleged abductors, while courts often discount official age documents and validate such unions, returning girls to their alleged captors as ‘legal wives.’”
World Watch
Pakistan is No. 8 on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the 50 places most difficult to be a Christian.
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