World Christian Ministries
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Pakistan - Shabaz Kaka

Arrested: June 2001
Days Imprisoned: 1624 (as of November 13, 2005)

My name is Shabaz Kaka. In June 2001 I got on a bus going from Lahore to Faisalabad. After several hours when the bus stopped at Jamia Mosque in Faisalabad for a break, I visited the restroom along with the other passengers to relieve myself. When I came out, the leaders of the mosque saw the cross I was wearing a cross and began to question me. When they learned I was a Christian, they objected that I had used restroom adjacent to the mosque and accused me of desecrating the Koran. They said I tore pages out of the Koran and trampled them under my feet. Of course, I would never do such a thing, but this is a common lie used by Muslims to trap Christians. They contacted the nearest police station and filed a complaint. The police came and arrested me and charged me with committing offenses under the anti-Blasphemy Law and took me to the local jail.

The authorities did not tell my parents anything about my arrest or imprisonment. For more than a year, my parents did not know what had happened to me. Finally, after being in jail more than three years, I appeared in court in Faisalabad for my trial. On September 25, 2004, Judge Shahid Rafiq sentenced me to life in prison for a crime I did not commit. My attorney is appealing the decision, but it will take months, if not years, before the case is heard by a higher court. This is the way Christians are treated in this Muslim country.