Under Threat of Death

Raised as a Christian minority in a Muslim nation, Shagufta Kausar learned early on to never argue about faith or to stand up for her beliefs. Doing so could easily lead to riots and deadly violence, so she was told to always be silent, like a lamb. In 2013, local police raided Shagufta's home, accusing her of sending a blasphemous text to a local imam. As a mother of four, Shagufta was arrested, her handicapped husband, Shafqat, was hung upside down and beaten, and her children were put in state custody. The truth was, Shagufta didn't even have a phone and was illiterate - she couldn't write or speak the language in the text. She was impossibly innocent. Convicted at a trial she was not allowed to attend and sentenced to death by hanging, Shagufta was told that she could save herself and her family if she would only abandon her faith and accept Islam. Under threat of death, she refused. Her stunning true story of a courageous mother of four standing against the tyranny of her country's blasphemy laws illuminates the reality of what many Christians around the world face every day. Shagufta is a voice for Christian minorities that suffer daily persecution under unjust laws.