ICC Note:

Details regarding the death of a Christian man that was tortured to death by police in Pakistan have been revealed by the man’s son who was present during the torture. According to the victim’s son, police hung the Christian man from the ceiling, naked, and beat him severely in an attempt to force a confession. The Christian was accused of stealing from his Muslim employer who he had faithfully worked for for many years. Christians are often discriminated against in Pakistan and are readily blamed for any crime or misfortune due to their religious identity. 

2/3/2016 Pakistan (Christian Post) – The son of a Pakistani Christian servant who was tortured by police in an attempt to get him to confess to stealing from his Muslim employer has revealed his horrifying eyewitness testimony of the brutal beating that his father endured earlier this month that ultimately led to his father’s death.

On Jan. 14, the slain body of 47-year-old Liaqat Masih was handed over by authorities to his family in the town of Gujranwala in the Punjab province. Masih and his son were arrested by local police officers based on the accusation of theft from the home of his Muslim employer, Mohammad Raza Hameed, whom employed Masih as his driver for over 15 years.

Hameed and his father S.A. Hameed are wealthy Muslim businessmen and leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf political party in the community. When Hameed and his family went out of town, their home got robbed and Hameed notified the police about the robbery and initially lodged a complaint against unknown perpetrators.

According to the Pakistani Christian Post, Hameed later accused his own servant of stealing from him and then pressured police to arrest and force a confession out of Masih and his son, Khurram.

As the Masih family is now being legally represented by the European Center for Law and Justice’s Pakistani affiliate, the Organization for Legal Aid (OLA), Khurram provided in-depth detail about how the local police officers barbarically tortured him and his father as they refused to confess to a crime they did not commit.

After police officers questioned Khurram and he refused to confess, Khurram recalled that four police officers forced him to strip naked, then tied him up and then beat him. When Khurram again refused to confess to the crime, he said the officers brought in his father and also ordered his father to take off his clothes.

The officers then made Liaqat stand on a chair so they could tie his hands behind his back and hang him from the ceiling, which caused Liaqat’s shoulders to become dislocated.

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