15-year-old Christian girl abducted and forced to marry her Muslim kidnapper

olamide oni

January 15, 2016 1:00 PM

"We have been told that she has married after converting to Islam with a Muslim man Tanvir, her kidnapper," her brother lamented.

A young girl was kidnapped and forced into marriage in Pakistan

A 15-year-old Christian girl has been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam before being married to her abductor in Pakistan, her family have said.

Christian Today reports that the young girl, whose name was given as Saima Bibi, was abucted by a group of Muslim men when she was alone in a village in the Kasur district of Pakistan, her brother Riaz Masih said

"We have been told that she has married after converting to Islam with a Muslim man Tanvir, her kidnapper." Masih lamented.

"My sister... is 15 years old. We have her birth certificate, which will be produced before the court."

Saima and her alleged-husband will appear before a local court, "where the girl can testify whether she was kidnapped or willingly married the Muslim man," a police spokesperson said.

According to the Movement for Solidarity and Peace (MSP), the victim remains in the custody of her abductor throughout the case, during which time she may be subjected to "sexual violence, rape, forced prostitution, human trafficking and sale, or other dometic abuse."

Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, head of Legal Evangelical Association Development, who has experience with similar cases, said "the perpetrators often take a plea of marriage and conversion to Islam so that they can save themselves from criminal charges of rape and kidnapping."

olamide oni