American Center for Law and Justice: Defending a Christian Convert in the U.S.
Defending a Christian Convert in the U.S.
I want to bring you news about an important case we are handing involving the protection of the rights of a Christian convert in this country.
We represent Nishan in a case out of Ohio. She is a former Muslim and now devout Christian, has been falsely accused of violating Ohio law which prohibits an applicant for marriage from making a false statement on an application or affidavit. It has been alleged that our client, who married a former classmate from high school last month, was previously married to a citizen of Pakistan at the age of 17 as part of a “nikah” – an arranged marriage or promise to marry under Islamic tradition.
The “nikah” was arranged by Nishan's father during a family trip to Karachi, Pakistan in May 2007 following her graduation from high school. Three days after the ceremony, Nishan and her father returned to the United States. She remained confused about the ceremony conducted during her trip to Pakistan and later took precautionary steps to annul her vows by sending an affidavit to the U.S. Consulate in Pakistan in August of 2007. Her family never again mentioned her alleged Pakistani husband and Nishan believed that all necessary steps had been taken to annul any alleged marriage vows.
Following these events, Nishan began dating her current husband and converted to Christianity in 2009. Fearing what her devout Muslim family members might do if they became aware of her religious conversion, she kept her new faith a secret until shortly before her marriage. Upon hearing that Nishan was a convert to Christianity, her father attempted to physically assault her.
Nishan never knowingly or intentionally misstated her marital status on her application for marriage to her husband in October. The fact is that even if Nishan's own attempts to nullify her Pakistani marriage were insufficient, her conversion to Christianity in 2009 effectively annulled her alleged betrothal pursuant to Islamic law which provides that if either spouse leaves Islam (e.g. by conversion to Christianity), and the two never consummated their union, the betrothal is immediately annulled.
This is an important case involving the rights of a former Muslim to accept and convert to Christianity and we will be in court later this month to defend our client from these criminal charges.
We will keep you posted as this case unfolds.
We represent Nishan in a case out of Ohio. She is a former Muslim and now devout Christian, has been falsely accused of violating Ohio law which prohibits an applicant for marriage from making a false statement on an application or affidavit. It has been alleged that our client, who married a former classmate from high school last month, was previously married to a citizen of Pakistan at the age of 17 as part of a “nikah” – an arranged marriage or promise to marry under Islamic tradition.
The “nikah” was arranged by Nishan's father during a family trip to Karachi, Pakistan in May 2007 following her graduation from high school. Three days after the ceremony, Nishan and her father returned to the United States. She remained confused about the ceremony conducted during her trip to Pakistan and later took precautionary steps to annul her vows by sending an affidavit to the U.S. Consulate in Pakistan in August of 2007. Her family never again mentioned her alleged Pakistani husband and Nishan believed that all necessary steps had been taken to annul any alleged marriage vows.
Following these events, Nishan began dating her current husband and converted to Christianity in 2009. Fearing what her devout Muslim family members might do if they became aware of her religious conversion, she kept her new faith a secret until shortly before her marriage. Upon hearing that Nishan was a convert to Christianity, her father attempted to physically assault her.
Nishan never knowingly or intentionally misstated her marital status on her application for marriage to her husband in October. The fact is that even if Nishan's own attempts to nullify her Pakistani marriage were insufficient, her conversion to Christianity in 2009 effectively annulled her alleged betrothal pursuant to Islamic law which provides that if either spouse leaves Islam (e.g. by conversion to Christianity), and the two never consummated their union, the betrothal is immediately annulled.
This is an important case involving the rights of a former Muslim to accept and convert to Christianity and we will be in court later this month to defend our client from these criminal charges.
We will keep you posted as this case unfolds.