A judge this month granted bail to a Christian woman falsely charged with theft in Abbottabad after police failed to produce evidence incriminating her, she said.

Salma Emmanuel, 30, was freed on bail on Dec. 8. She and her husband were severely beaten for three days when they refused to confess, and she was taken to a hospital in critical condition on Nov. 7, the life of her unborn child also threatened.

The couple lost their life savings – gold ornaments of 100 grams – and both have lost their jobs as a result of the false charges and are depending on relatives to cover their living expenses, she said. “My husband goes out every day to find work but has been unsuccessful so far,” she said.

“This Christmas we didn’t have money to buy clothes for our children, and neither did we have any explanation to make them understand why we were so helpless. But we have witnessed the mercy of the Lord and have faith that this time shall pass, too.” The couple has three children – the oldest 12, the youngest 5. Full Story

30-year-old Emmanuel and her husband, Emmanuel Rasheed, said that they were arrested and accused of theft after the Muslim woman who employed Emmanuel as a maid had allowed the Christian woman to temporarily store some of her jewelry at her employer’s house.

Emmanuel said that upon reaching the police station, an inspector identified only as Nazia and two other policewomen started punching and kicking her and striking her with batons, demanding that she “confess her crime.”

“I begged them for mercy, pleading that I am five months pregnant, but they continued their merciless onslaught for over three hours,” she said. ‘They continued to try to force me to admit to the crime, even threatening that they would kill my baby, but I refused to confess a false allegation.”

Rasheed said police tried to convert him to Islam while he was in custody. “A policeman offered to remove the theft charges against me if I was willing to renounce Christianity and convert to Islam,” he said. “I told him that no matter what happens, I will not renounce my faith, nor would I confess the false charges made against us.

”Emmanuel was treated at Benazir Shaheed Hospital, where doctors began efforts to save her and the fetus.

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Fazeelat Bibi’s face lights up when she talks about sharing the gospel with women and teaching them to read it on their own. Fazeelat, now 46, has been teaching other women, in her village in Pakistan, since 2002. “Before [my] marriage, when I was living with my parental family at a Muslim majority village, … I started preaching [the] gospel and adult education teachings when I was 20 years old,” Fazeelat said. “I feel sad when I see Christian[s] cannot read the Bible and Christian literature. That’s why I started teaching a women’s group for adult education.” Fazeelat works with some of her friends to lead 30 women in a prayer group. “About 90 percent of women are uneducated,” she said. “All belong to financially poor families, and most of them face hardships and difficulties in their families. [During the prayer meetings] we discuss the family problems and pray for the sisters who are facing [challenges].” Pray that Fazeelat will courageously continue living for Christ and ministering to others in her village. Full Story

An evangelist is still recovering from burns after six young Muslim men beat him with clubs and belts and set him on fire last month in a village near a Punjab Province city. Area Christians said they found the Rev. Wilson Augustine, 26 unconscious with burns on his head, hand and arm on November 22. Augustine was distributing pamphlets and proclaiming Christ door-to-door the previous day in several villages near Sargodha. The sons of a powerful local leader saw one of the pamphlets and mistakenly regarded the verses in the pamphlet describing the resurrection of Jesus as derogatory to Muhammad. This angered the men and they ordered Augustine to leave the village. Augustine said that he then left the village, but the men kept pursuing him everywhere he went. While waiting at a bus stop, three motorcycles arrived and soon began beating him with clubs and belts. Soon after, they poured a flammable liquid on him and lit a match box, setting him ablaze. Full Story

Pakistan

Reverend Dr. Suleman Nasri Khan, a former Afghani fighter, converted to Christianity in the 2000.  Upon hearing of Khan’s conversion, Muslim extremists attacked and killed his 3-month old child, Sana Nasri Khan. After the death of baby Sana, Khan and his wife relocated to an apartment in Islamabad—a safe haven…or so they thought.  After embracing Christ, he began preaching and studying – ending up with a doctorate in biblical theology from Punjab Theological Seminary in Kasur in 2005. On October 25, 2010, Islamic scholar Allama Nawazish issued a fatwa (religious ruling) to search out and kill Reverend Khan.  With no choice but to obey, Islamic radicals came upon Khan and tried to force him to recite the Islamic creed for conversion. When Khan refused, the radicals beat him with bricks and hockey sticks. After being found on the side of the road, Khan was taken to a private clinic where he stayed unconscious for four hours. Full Story

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 25 (CDN) — Muslim students attacked a Christian professor at the University of Peshawar this month after he refused their demand to convert to Islam, the instructor told Compass.

Psychology professor Samuel John, a father of four who has been teaching at the university in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province for 12 years, said that as he came out of his house on the university campus at 8:30 a.m. on June 14, about 20 to 25 students rushed and assaulted him.

“I shouted for help, but no one came to help,” he said.

When his wife learned what was happening, she ran to help him, but the students beat her as well. Both John and his wife were rushed to Lady Reading hospital, where they were treated for their injuries, with John listed in critical condition.

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Police illegally detained three Christians on false charges of alcohol possession in Sialkot last week. The men – garment factory workers Atif Masih, Kamran Masih and Naveed Gill – said they had objected to their boss demanding they work on Sundays. Factory owner Rana Ejaz promptly accused them of selling alcohol, which is forbidden to Muslims in Pakistan and illegal to sell without a permit. On May 4 the station house officer of Paka Garah, Sialkot, arrested the three Christians even though Ejaz had filed neither a First Information Report nor registered a written complaint, the Christians said. “We went to the factory for work at 9 a.m. on May 4, and at around 11 a.m. we were arrested by the SHO (station house officer),” Atif Masih said. “We were severely beaten and asked to give a false statement that we sold alcohol.” Authorities released them after three days when local human rights groups charged that they had been illegally detained. Full Story