Conflicting Stories on Burning to Death of A Pakistani Christian Man

Washington, D.C. (April 5, 2010)–International Christian Concern (ICC) issued a press release on March 23 entitled “Pakistani Muslims Burn A Christian Man to Death, Policeman Rapes His Wife.” Since the issuance of the press release, we have since received several conflicting reports regarding this alleged incident.

Some sources confirm the report, while others say that Rashid Masih (our previous report said his first name was Arshed) burned himself to death after police tortured his wife.

ICC sent a team to Rawalpindi , Pakistan to investigate the incident ourselves. Our team interviewed Rashid’s family and neighbors. According to their statements, police arrested Rukhsana, Masih’s wife, after her Muslim employer, Shafaqat Ali, accused her of stealing property and money worth more than $500. According to several local sources the Muslim police officers did in fact torture Rukhsana.

Extremist Muslims warned Masih that they would rape his wife and daughter unless Rukhsana returned the stolen property.

To the best of our knowledge, on March 18, Rashid burned himself to death due to the torture of his wife and threats that he received. He died from his injuries on March 22.

Some sources still maintain that Masih was burned to death by Muslims. According to the sources, Pakistani officials bribed Masih’s family to compel them not to reveal the fact. Masih’s case attracted huge international attention and it’s possible that the government or those facing prosecution bribed Masih’s family to hide the truth. This is a common occurrence.

At this point, our press release from March 23 should be disregarded.