Christians in Pakistan who are on trial for murder have been told by a prosecutor they could be acquitted if they renounce their faith and convert to Islam.
The public prosecutor told the minority group he could 'guarantee their acquittal' if they recanted their Christian faith and converted, according the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune, The Times of India reported.
Forty-two Christians in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, have been accused of murder, charged with lynching two men believed to be connected with the March 2015 suicide bombing attacks on two churches in Youhanabad, Lahore, that killed at least 17 and injured more than 80.
Two Muslim men were lynched by a mob, beaten to death and burned, during protests by Christians following the Lahore bombings. Further protests resulted in the deaths of 25 people and the arrest of around 150 protesters.
Joseph Franci, a human rights activist advocating for the accused, said the offer was made by deputy district public prosecutor Syed Anees Shah. Franci said: 'He asks them if they embrace Islam, he can guarantee them their acquittal in this case.'
The Christians were reportedly left speechless by the offer, while one said he would be sooner be hanged than convert.
Naseeb Anjum Advocate, also supporting some of the accused, said that the Shah's offer was a form of 'blackmailing' that brought a 'bad name to the state'.
When Shah was approached about the alleged offer he made, he denied it at first. When he was told his bargain had been recorded on video, he admitted that he may have 'offered them a choice'.
At least 95 per cent of the Pakistani population is Muslim and Islam is enshrined in the constitution as the state religion. The Christian minority number about 2.5 million, 1.6 per cent of Pakistan's population.
Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said: 'Here is evidence that the judiciary in Pakistan is not independent and free from bias.
'The fact that Christian men could be spared a death penalty by simply renouncing their Christian faith and accepting Islam is a clear indication that either extremists have infiltrated the Justice system of Pakistan, or that the nation is full of zealots that will stop at nothing to convert "kaffir" [infidels].'
He added: 'This whole fiasco has only served to heighten my concerns for Christians and other minorities in Pakistan, who are clearly in the middle of a cultural genocide, which inexorably will lead to more pain and anguish.'
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom last year said the country's controversial blasphemy laws 'intrinsically violate international standards of freedom of religion of belief' and accused the Pakistani government of failing to provide adequate protections for faiths other than Islam.
