A Pakistani Christian girl who fled the home of a Muslim man she was forced to marry is pleading with Boris Johnson to help her.

Maira Shahbaz, 14, and her family have been forced into hiding because of the threats to their lives from Islamist extremists. 

She was abducted at gunpoint and forced to marry last year, when her family say she was just 13, before managing to escape.  

Her family is contesting the marriage in court and the case is ongoing. 

In a statement over the weekend, she appealed to the British Prime Minister to help her.

"I am very much scared due to threats to my life and my family. Please protect me," she said according to the Daily Mail. 

Over 9,000 people have signed a petition by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) urging the Prime Minister to grant Maira and her family asylum. 

It comes ahead of ACN's Red Wednesday event, held each year to raise awareness of the plight of persecuted Christians. 

Its report, Set Your Captives Free – A Report on Christians unjustly detained for their Faith, will be released on Red Wednesday in Parliament. 

ACN said that regardless of what the court decides on Maira's case, her "life will forever be in danger".

"There is the threat of honour killing. Extremists in Pakistan consider her an apostate and will kill her at the first chance. Her lawyer said men have been looking for her, knocking on doors and asking for her whereabouts," it said.

ACN director Neville Kyrke-Smith said: "It's urgent that the Prime Minister acts to save the lives of Maira and her family. They are in grave danger."