Pakistan court to review ruling in forced conversion, child marriage case

The Federal Constitutional Court of Pakistan will review a previous ruling that allowed a 13-year-old Christian girl, who was forced into child marriage and religious conversion, to stay with her abductor.

“One year ago in July 2025, Maria [Shahbaz] was abducted. She was forced into a marriage with a 30-year-old man. She was forcibly converted and she remains with the abductor today,” Kelsey Zorzi, director of advocacy for Global Religious Freedom at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo.

ADF International is supporting Shahbaz’s ongoing case and calling for an end to forced marriage and conversions in Pakistan.

Shahbaz has been seeking justice in the Pakistani court since it placed her in the custody of Shehryar Ahmad –— the man who abducted her from her family. The Christian girl was married off to Ahmad and forcibly converted to Islam.

The court previously found that she could remain with her abductor after “they did not verify her age according to her birth certificate,” Zorzi explained. “Instead, they looked at her and said, ‘She doesnʼt look 13. She looks older.’ And they sent her home with…