Sufyan Masih: Pakistan

Freedom of Religion – Forced Conversion Cases: Pakistan

Christians fraudulently “converted” in attempted enslavement

Topic | Freedom of Religion

24-year-old Christian brick kiln worker, Sufyan Masih, is finally free to register as a Christian following a 6-year-long legal ordeal in Pakistan. Sufyan’s employer fraudulently converted and registered him as a Muslim on his National Identity Card. He did this in an attempt to enslave Sufyan, including withholding pay and prohibiting him from returning to his family. The employer claimed that he “adopted” Sufyan when he fraudulently switched his identity to a Muslim. Sufyan was freed but unfortunately, his story is not an outlier. Many other Christians in Pakistan face similar human rights violations.

Apostasy is considered a sin punishable by death under most schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Although there is no specific law in Pakistan to deny Muslims their right to change religion, there are several reported instances of apostates experiencing mob violence or being criminally prosecuted under Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes which could result even in a death penalty.

In this case, Sufyan faced the risk of being branded as an apostate or his family members being accused of blasphemy given the appearance that he was converting away from Islam to Christianity, despite never actually being a Muslim. Sufyan and his family members are illiterate and could not understand the ID form. His case is just one of the many examples of systematic religious persecution in Pakistan and targeted harassment through the National Identity Card system.

Desperately attempting to recover their son, Sufyan’s family turned to ADF International for legal support. Following years of legal proceedings, a civil judge in Pakistan finally upheld Sufyan’s right to correctly change and update his identity card to reflect his Christian faith and name in November 2024. The judge noted that Sufyan was a victim of fake “conversion”, and that his Muslim employers had fraudulently registered him as a Muslim in the national database.

"Even though there are laws to protect the religious freedom rights of all Pakistani citizens, this is yet another example of how laws in Pakistan are weaponized to punish and target Christians. Hopefully, Sufyan’s victory will set a precedent to protect other Christians and religious minorities in Pakistan who are unjustly persecuted because of their faith."

- Tehmina Arora, ADF International’s Director of Advocacy for Asia

Case summary

ADF International allied lawyers filed a petition on Sufyan’s behalf in September 2022 after the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in Pakistan refused to accept Sufyan’s requests to correct his religious designation and his name on his national identity card. During the proceedings, allied lawyers submitted evidence, including Sufyan’s baptism certificate, and presented Sufyan’s Christian parents in court as evidence of his Christian identity. In addition, Sufyan himself told the court that he continued to practice his Christian faith and was not a Muslim.

In a May 2024 verdict, a civil judge in Pakistan rejected Sufyan’s petition to change his identity to Christian despite his testimony that he was not practicing the Islamic religion. Authorities in Pakistan deny and delay changes to ID cards once someone is registered as Muslim on the basis of the belief that everyone is born Muslim. Muslims are not allowed to change their religion on the ID cards. A change in religion on ID cards is only allowed when you are able to show that there was an error in the record or when you are converting to Islam. As stated by civil judge Mian Usman Tariq in Sufyan’s 2024 trial: “Islam teaches that everyone is Muslim at birth, but the parents and society cause one to deviate from the straight path”.

Following the May 2024 verdict, ADF International’s allied lawyers challenged the civil court’s decision in the court of Ahmad Saeed, an additional district judge in Pattoki, who in November 2024 set aside the earlier verdict, holding that Sufyan was a victim of fraudulent “conversion” by his employer.

Following this court decision, Sufyan has been able to get his National Identity Card correctly updated to reflect his Christian faith.

Systematic religious persecution

The end of Sufyan’s legal ordeal, just one of many examples of systematic religious persecution in Pakistan, comes as officials from the European Union issued a warning to Pakistan regarding its human rights violations, including blasphemy laws, forced conversions, and other targeted persecution against religious minorities. If not addressed, Pakistan’s trade relations with the EU could be jeopardized.

“We are thankful that Sufyan Masih finally is able to freely live and identify as a Christian following so many years of extreme hardship,” said Tehmina Arora, ADF International’s Director of Advocacy for Asia.

“This is yet another example of how laws in Pakistan are weaponized to punish and target Christians. Pakistani authorities make it extremely difficult to “stop” being a Muslim once you are designated as such. This presents a major problem for Christians like Sufyan when they are illegally converted to Islam on their identification documents, which is a pervasive problem and egregious violation of religious freedom. We are grateful for the precedent that is set by this victory, and hopeful that it will go on to protect Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan who are unjustly persecuted because of their faith.”

Denial of religious freedom

International law guarantees the freedom to change one’s religion, along with the right to practice it publicly and privately. Pakistan is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines the right of every person “to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.”

“What has happened to Sufyan and hundreds of others who suffer similar legal abuses in Pakistan is a clear violation of the right to religious freedom guaranteed under international human rights law. Further, Article 20 of Pakistan’s Constitution allows citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion. Sufyan’s case shows how this fundamental right is being systematically denied, perpetuating a culture where Christians and other religious minorities suffer violations of their basic human rights,” Arora continued.

ADF International is supporting several other cases like Sufyan’s to restore the right of these Christians to freely live out their faith.