Before a court-ordered medical examination could be completed to verify a 13-year-old girl’s age, a Pakistani judge awarded custody to the man who had abducted her.
The July 25 court decision remanded Amber Nadeem, a Christian, to the custody of Mohsin Liaqat, Christian Daily International-Morning Star News reported. Liaqat, a Muslim, kidnapped her, then forced her to convert to Islam and marry him.
Check out more stories on the persecuted church.
She later claimed in an affidavit that she willingly converted to Islam and married him, but told a magistrate June 27 that members of the captor’s family had told her to say she is an adult.
‘Grave injustice’
Joseph Janssen of the advocacy group Voice for Justice told Christian Daily-Morning Star that the magistrate had ordered a medical exam to ascertain the girl’s age, but before it was completed a judge accepted her affidavit claiming to have converted voluntarily.
Also, “the judge accepted Liaqat’s post-arrest bail application,” Janssen told the news outlet. “ … Amber then left the courtroom with the accused’s relatives and lawyers while her impoverished parents stood by in tears after witnessing a grave injustice.”
World Watch
Pakistan is No. 8 on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the 50 places most difficult to be a Christian.
Share with others: