13-year-old Christian girl fights in court to escape custody of Muslim abductor: 'Serious injustice'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl, is fighting in court to escape the 30-year-old Muslim man who abducted her from her home in 2025. | Courtesy Alliance Defending Freedom

A 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl is fighting in court to reunite with her family after a judge returned her to the custody of the 30-year-old Muslim man who abducted her last year.

Maria Shahbaz was kidnapped from her Christian home in July 2025 by Shehryar Ahmad, who married her against her will and forced her to convert to Islam. Shahbaz has since been "exposed to grave abuse and exploitation," according to a press release from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit legal advocacy group.

An earlier investigation found that she was a minor and that her marriage documents were forged. Even so, Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court reportedly did not confirm her age before ruling in February that she should remain in Ahmad's custody. The ruling contradicts Pakistani law, which does not allow minors to consent to marriage or religious conversion.

As Shahbaz awaits another court hearing, local lawyer Lazar Allah Rakha said the Pakistani judiciary has a chance to correct a grave error.

"The court that is due to hear this case has an opportunity to correct a serious injustice. Maria is a child. She was abducted, her documents were found to be forged, and the court handed her back to the man who took her — without even confirming her age. That cannot be allowed to stand," Rakha said.

"This is not just about Maria, though Maria's situation is urgent and she must be brought home. This ruling, if it stands, will further erode the confidence of the minority communities in the justice system. This review petition is an opportunity for the court to relook at their previous order and implement the law," he added.

Despite heated debate among lawmakers, Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, passed updated legislation this year to reinforce the minimum marriage age of 18 and require courts to prioritize the best interests of the child in such cases. The bill replaced provisions of Punjab's Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, which allowed girls to marry at 16 and boys at 18.

The change came as international bodies — including United Nations experts, members of the European Parliament and U.K. lawmakers — have repeatedly raised concerns about forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan, where more than 1,000 underage girls are reportedly subjected to these practices each year.

International Crackdown on India-Based Gangs Announcement

 

Alleged Haitian gang leader sentenced to life in prison in kidnapping of 16 American missionaries

December 3, 2025 / 5:29 PM EST / CBS/AP

A man alleged to be the founder and leader of a Haitian gang was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison for orchestrating the 2021 kidnapping of 17 people — 16 of them Americans — including five children, who were on a missionary trip to the Caribbean country.

Joly Germine declined to say anything before U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington, D.C., sentenced him.

"No remorse has been shown by Mr. Germine. No acceptance of responsibility," the judge said.

Some of the kidnapping victims chose to speak in court, telling Germine they forgive him for his role in their ordeal.

Ray Noecker, whose wife, Cheryl, and five children were held hostage, said it was a "life-changing experience" for their family. He turned to Germine and told him that he hopes he finds "God's peace."

"True freedom is not found outside of prison walls. True freedom is found inside your own heart," Noecker said.

The victims — 16 U.S. citizens and one Canadian citizen — were kidnapped by gang members near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Oct. 16, 2021. Two hostages were freed in November 2021 and three more were released in early December. The remaining 12 escaped later in December after being held at gunpoint for 62 days.

Man Leading Massive Migrant Caravan to US Was Convicted of Kidnapping in Mexico Decades Ago: Report

Luis Garcia Villagran is leading a 10,000-strong throng of migrants to the US border with Mexico

Published 12/26/23 10:33 AM ET|Updated 12/26/23 12:06 PM ETMark Moore

Luis Garcia Villagran is leading a group of nearly 8,000 migrants to the United States. PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images


The migrant activist who is leading thousands of asylum-seekers to the United States was convicted of kidnapping nearly three decades ago and sentenced to 40 years in a Mexican prison where he claims he was tortured, according to a report.

Luis Garcia Villagran, a self-described Evangelical Christian, is at the head of the procession of nearly 10,000 migrants who set off Christmas Eve from the southern Mexican town of Tapachula heading north to the United States, which is already reeling from an immigrant crisis at the border.

Villagran, who runs the Center for Human Dignity, was arrested in the Mexican state of Chiapas in 1997 on kidnapping and conspiracy charges, which he has denied, the New York Post reported.

A judge sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

While imprisoned, Villagran said he was held in solitary confinement and tortured in an attempt to make him confess, resulting in him suffering a detached retina.

The injury, he said, went untreated and he lost sight in one eye.

Villagran said he was “stigmatized as dangerous, and they took me to maximum security prisons until the [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] demanded my freedom.”

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He was released in 2010.

That experience led to the creation of the Center for Human Dignity, which he operates with his wife, Martha Martinex de la Fuente, the New York Post reported.

Villagran, who says he has led more than 40,000 migrants to the US since September 2021, is guiding a group of 8,000 asylum seekers mainly from South and Central America through Mexico. He predicted that the caravan could swell to 15,000 along the journey.

"We are the poorest of the poorest of those at the peak of need, those of us who do not have money to pay for visas or people smugglers," he said, according to the New York Post.

More than two million people have been apprehended at the US border in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the Department of Homeland Security says.

About 10,000 migrants have been arrested every day at the border this month, forcing US Customs and Border Protection to suspend cross-border rail traffic in the Texas border cities of Eagle Pass and El Paso, the Associated Press reported.

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Maronite bishops urge end to kidnapping, chaos

April 02, 2014 01:27 PM

The Daily Star

Maronite bishops attend the monthly meeting in Bkirki, Wednesday, March 5, 2014. (The Daily Star/HO)


BEIRUT: Authorities must put an end to all forms of kidnappings and chaos plaguing Lebanon, Maronite bishops said Wednesday.

The Council of Maronite Bishops “urges the government and security forces to take the necessary measures to stop the phenomenon of kidnapping and to prosecute kidnappers,” said a statement at the end of their monthly meeting.

Last week, Maronite Bishop Semaan Atallah escaped an attempted kidnapping in the eastern town of Zahle.

The Council also called for an “end to chaos" and the "safeguarding of the dignity of citizens.”

The bishops hailed a security plan to restore stability in the northern city of Tripoli and called for similar measures to be carried out elsewhere in Lebanon.

The bishops reiterated the need to respect constitutional deadlines and called on political forces to speed up presidential elections before President Michel Sleiman’s term expires May 25.

(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)


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