Pakistani Christian couple locked in a factory and beaten to death for throwing out a dead relative's Koran

A photo of the Christian couple Shama Bibi (left) and Shehzad Masih, who were murdered in Pakistan after a mob accused them of desecrating a copy of the Koran

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• Christian couple were locked in factory after boss thought they'd flee debts• A mob then beat them and threw them onto a brick kiln, witnesses said• Relatives claim the couple were working in indentured servitude• Killing latest example of mob violence against minorities in Muslim Pakistan• Koran was desecrated day before the attack and mob blamed the couple • Police boosted security in Christian neighbourhoods after attack•

By DARREN BOYLE and SAM WEBB and COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 12:48 GMT, 5 November 2014 | UPDATED: 00:06 GMT, 6 November 2014

A Pakistani labourer and his pregnant wife killed for alleged blasphemy were locked inside a brick-making factory before their murder to prevent them from fleeing their debts, relatives said today.

Shehzad Masih and Shama Bibi - who was four months pregnant and a mother to three children - were then beaten, surrounded by a 1,500 strong crowd and thrown on top of a brick kiln, witnesses said.The killing was sparked by the mob's belief the couple had desecrated a copy of the Koran. By the time the attack was over, only charred bones and the couple's discardedshoes remained.The gruesome incident took place yesterday in the tiny hamlet of Chak 59 near Kot Radha Kishan town, 60 kilometres southwest of Lahore.

+12A man surveys the site of the brick kiln where the Christian couple were murdered yesterday

+12Police and locals pictured at the site of their death. The couple's relatives have claimed the two were detained by their boss before they were killed because he fearedthey would try and flee their debts

+12Relatives of a Christian couple who were burnt alive for alleged blasphemy cry at their house in Kot Radha Kishan, near Kasur, Pakistan

+12Pakistani Christians lay floral wreaths at the brick kiln where a Christian couple was burnt aliveThe killing has sparked protests by Christians and outrage among rights activists, while police have arrested 44 suspects.Jawad Qamar, a local police official, has now explained that local suspicions of blasphemy unfolded more than a week earlier with the death of Shehzad's father, a local religious healer.

Family of Christian couple killed over Koran demand justice

'When he died, Shehzad's wife went to his room and cleaned up the mess. There was a trunk in his room. Shehzad's wife took the things that could be useful and threw the trash in front of her house.'The garbage collector collected the trash the next day and told a local cleric that he had collected pages of the Koran thrown in front of Shehzad's house from the trash.' However, Shehzad's older brother said he and his whole family are bonded workers paying off their debts to the brick kiln owner - a man named Mohammed Yousuf.'We take advance money from the owner and work for him, it has been going on for years. On November 3, the owner had called Iqbal and detained him sensing that he might run away to save his life,' he said tearfully.The allegation against the factory owner was denied by his son Khawar Yousuf.He said: 'We don't know what has happened, the family has been working for us for 20years and we have never noticed anything bad.'It's wrong to say that my father locked them up.'

+12Members of Pakistan's Christian community protest the couple's murder in Islamabad

+12Protesters in Faisalabad hold a sign condemning the 'brutal murder' of Shama Bibi and Shahzad Masih

+12Those who take part in blasphemy-related mob violence are rarely, if ever, prosecuted.Pictured are campaigners with a sign calling on politicians to ensure justice is doneCamera man Malik Abdul Aziz, who witnessed the killing, has described first hand the brutal attack that unfolded.He said about 1,500 people gathered from nearby villages after being stoked up by local clerics who announced the couple had committed blasphemy over the loudspeakers of their mosques.'They started beating the couple with sticks and bricks chanting slogans of "We will laydown our lives for the honour of the prophet" and then tore off their clothes.'The couple were screaming, begging for mercy and saying they have not committed any sin.'The mob dragged them for around 20 yards and laid them on top of the brick kiln ovenand kept them there till they were burnt,' he added.It was not clear whether they were already dead or burnt alive.

+12Pakistan minority rights campaigners in Kasur, near Lahore, carry a mock coffin in protest

+12Pakistani security officials have been placed on high alert since the married couple were killed near Lahore. Police have arrested 44 people for the lynching after the couple allegedly desecrated a copy of the Koran

+12A mob accused the couple of desecrating a copy of the Koran who then beat them andthrew them into a kiln

+12The Christian couple were attacked in the town which is just 50 miles from Lahore andthrown into a kilnBlasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in the majority Muslim country, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence.Those who take part in the violence are rarely if ever prosecuted - a fact not lost upon the relatives of the deceased.'I need justice but I am sure I won't be able to get it, the clerics are too powerful,' Shehzad's brother Iqbal said.Tahir Ashrafi, a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Pakistan's top religious body, held police responsible for failing to act to protect the couple before the mob violence occurred.

'This case must go to a anti-terrorism court and the culprits must be arrested and punished, including the mullah (who made the blasphemy accusation in mosque) if he's involved,' he said. Police chief Qamar stated that no particular sectarian group or religious outfit was behind the attack.Pakistan's brick kiln workers are often subject to harsh practices, with a study by the Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan estimating that 4.5 million are indentured labourers.Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif constituted a three-member committee to fast track the investigation of the killings and ordered police to beef up security at Christianneighbourhoods in the province.Blasphemy charges, even when they go to court, are punishable by death in Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Mohammad Asghar, left, from Glasgow, was shot last month in a Pakistani prison while he waited for his execution for blasphemy, his daughter Jasmine Rana, right, wants an investigation into her father's caseThey are hard to fight because the law does not define clearly what is blasphemous. Presenting the evidence can sometimes itself be considered a fresh infringement.Christians make up about four per cent of Pakistan's population and tend to keep a low profile in a country where Sunni Muslim militants frequently bomb targets they see as heretical, including Christians, and Sufi and Shi'ite Muslims.All of Pakistan's minorities feel that the state fails to protect them, and even tolerates violence against them.Last month a British man with a history of mental health illness, sentenced to death forblasphemy earlier this year, was shot by a prison guard in his cell.Also in October, a Pakistani court upheld the death penalty against a Christian woman,Asia Bibi, who is also accused of blasphemy, in a case that drew global headlines after

two prominent politicians who tried to help her were assassinated.

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