Iqbal Masih (Urdu: اقبال مسیح) (b. 1982 - April 16, 1995), was a Pakistani boy who was sold to a carpet industry as a child slave at the age of 4 for the equivalent of (12) USD. Iqbal was held by a chain to a carpet loom in a small town called Muridke near Lahore. He was made to work sixteen hours per day. Due to long hours of hard work and insufficient food and care, Iqbal was undersized. At twelve years of age, Iqbal was the size of a six-year old. At the age of 10, he escaped the slavery and later joined a Bonded Labor Liberation Front of Pakistan to help stop child labour around the world, and Iqbal helped over 3,000 Pakistan children that were in bonded labour, escape to freedom. Iqbal gave talks about child labor all round the world. He was murdered on Easter Sunday 1995. It is assumed by many that he was assassinated by members of the "carpet mafia" because of the publicity he brought towards the child labor industry. Some locals were accused of the crime, however. In 1994, Iqbal was awarded the Reebok Human Rights Award. In 2000, when The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child was formed, he was posthumously awarded this prize as one of the first laureates. Masih's work and subsequent death inspired the then 12 year old Canadian boy, Craig Kielburger to devote his life to the boy's cause and organized Free the Children. Francesco D'Adamo wrote an Italian children's book about Iqbal's story, from the point of view of Fatima, a child who worked with him at the carpet factory. The book has been translated into English and it is called "Iqbal".
References
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External links
- A Bullet Can't Kill a Dream — an account of the story of Iqbal Masih from an American point of view
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Masih, Iqbal |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | former child slave, activist against child labour and bonded labour |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1982 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Muridke, Punjab, Pakistan |
| DATE OF DEATH | 16 April 1995 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Muridke |
