By Theodore Shoebat
Two Muslims in Pakistan raped two Christian girls as they were trying to go to the bathroom. The two rapists were put on trial. Muslim terrorist groups then began to push for their acquittal and even began intimidating a key witness. Now the two rapists have been acquitted and are free. Here is the report:
Two Muslim men who raped two Christian sisters in Pakistan last year have been acquitted after Islamists pressured a key witness not to testify and a prosecutor failed to show up in court, family and legal sources said.
The two teenaged girls (names withheld) had gone to a toilet in a field near their village of Jaranwala, Faisalabad on Nov. 28, 2014 when the men, Muhammad Shahbaz and Muhammad Azeem, abducted them at gunpoint, beat one for protesting, took them to a house and raped them throughout the night, they said. The girls said they recognized the assailants, said to be between 25 and 30 years old, as they were from their area.
The girls’ father, whose name is withheld for legal reasons, told Morning Star News a witness changed his statement after receiving a bribe, which led to the collapse of a hearing at Jaranwala Trial Court on Oct. 10. The court on Oct. 15 acquitted the suspects.
“The prosecution evidence contains a large number of material infirmities and contradictions, and the benefit of them, necessarily, is to be extended to the accused,” the judge said. “This leads this court to the obvious conclusion that the prosecution remain unsuccessful to provide its case against the accused beyond [any] shadow of doubt.”
The girls’ father told the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) that he was upset and disappointed.
“We didn’t get justice,” he said. “The lawyer didn’t fight the case very well and with commitment. Mostly, he stayed absent from the hearings of the case during the proceedings. The lawyer didn’t even participate in the cross-questioning with the culprits in the court.”
Soon after the men were arrested, the girls’ family survived gunfire on their home, presumably from parties opposed to their attempt to prosecute. The family is in greater danger now, the father said.“We face serious life threats from the culprits now, as they are being released from jail,” he said. “I will appeal to the High Court, because I want justice for my daughters.”
The BPCA rehoused the girls in Pakistan after the shootings and death threats by Islamists, and the London-based organization is providing the girls education, counseling and other medical help, a servant for the elderly and ailing father and legal aid to file an appeal.