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Episode details

World Service,2 mins

SeriesFaith in Freedom

Rap music kept me sane

Heart and Soul

Available for over a year

Shahbaz Taseer was a hostage for more than four and a half years. Kidnapped at gunpoint by one of Pakistan’s most extreme terrorist groups, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, he was then captured during fighting by the Afghan Taliban. His abduction took place only seven months after his father, Salman Taseer, the Governor of Pakistan, was assassinated by his own bodyguard for defending the rights of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy. He rejected his Muslim faith while growing up, only reading the Quran for the first time in his cell, with his Uzbek mufti captor as his spiritual guide. Two years after his release, he has come to see his survival of barbaric and sickening torture as a miracle which has transformed his life. Produced by Lissa Cook for BBC World Service. Image: Shahbaz Taseer Credit: BBC Music Track: Still DRE Artist: Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg Composers: Young, Andre Romell/Bradford, Melvin Charles/Carter, Shawn C/Storch, Scott Spencer Publishers: W B Music Corp/Warner/Chappell North America Limited/Lil Lu Lu Publishing/W B Music Corp

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