Catholic World News

Pakistan: parents of Christian rape, murder victim will not press charges

October 19, 2010

To the consternation of some Christian organizations, the Christian parents of a rape and murder victim have accepted one million Pakistani rupees ($11,636) in return for abandoning charges against the perpetrators of the crime.

Lubna Masih, 12, was going to a store to buy milk in the northern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi when five Muslim young men forced her into a car and raped and murdered her. Terrified by the prospect of reprisals, her family initially decided not to press charges. Later, as the parents began to consider charges, “several members of Parliament” stepped in to obtain the money for the impoverished family in return for the abandonment of charges, according to the Fides news agency, which did not report on the money’s source.

“If the parents do not even have the strength to defend the memory of their daughter, nobody can do anything,” commented one Christian organization.

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